


Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass

by Mindfilledwithletters



Category: Glee
Genre: 24 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Klaine, Klaine Advent, M/M, Pianist!Blaine, advent calender (kinda), enemies to lovers (sort of), jeweler!kurt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 30,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27824611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindfilledwithletters/pseuds/Mindfilledwithletters
Summary: Kurt hates Christmas and Blaine Anderson, who seems to be madly in love with him and can't take no for an answer. Blaine gets to bring Christmas joy in the form of piano music to the department store Kurt works at and of course, it has to be promptly in front of the jewelry department where Kurt works. This Christmas season promises to be like no other.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce
Comments: 68
Kudos: 38





	1. The first day of Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Happy December, Merry Christmas season! I bring to you a Klaine advent calender that will hopefully get updated every single day up until Christmas! I'm quite busy with uni atm, so I'm not sure whether I can get an update up every single day, but I'm going to try my hardest! The entire fic is planned out, so it will all be up eventually!

There is nothing Kurt Hummel hates more than Christmas. Or maybe there is one thing, or rather, a person Kurt hates more. That person goes by the name Blaine Anderson. And of course he shows up when Kurt least wants him too.

Kurt is turned away from the counter, making sure that the cabinets holding thousands worth of jewelry are securely locked. Once he is satisfied that all the locks are still fastened the way they should be, he returns to his position at the counter. 

“You again,” he sighs as his least favourite person in the world is standing opposite him. 

“Hey Kurt,” Blaine smiles. 

Kurt sighs and looks at Blaine with an unamused expression on his face, “What are you doing here? Do I need to get a restraining order for you to get the memo that I do not want to see you?”

“There’s no need to be that hostile,” Blaine says, still looking rather chiper. 

“Can you go now?” Kurt asks. If he could, he would have walked away from the conversation, but he can’t. He is locked in the glass confinement of the jewelry counter. 

“I only wanted to ask you something,” Blaine says innocently. 

“No, I do not want to go out with you,” Kurt says harshly. “If you don’t leave now I will call security to have you removed.” 

“You can’t.” 

“Oh, but I can,” Kurt says, reaching to the microphone clipped onto his shirt. Just a press of the button would put him into contact with security, but Blaine interrupts the motion by moving his hand towards Kurt’s. 

“Don’t you dare,” Kurt says as he takes a step back to ensure the space between him and Blaine so that Blaine can’t touch him. “Now go,” he hisses, clearly done with Blaine. 

“I won’t go, or rather, I’m not allowed to,” Blaine smirks, he looks over his shoulder to the grand piano on display. Kurt was quite happy when it was carried in a week prior. He didn’t like Christmas music, but maybe if it was played live it wouldn’t be as awful. At least the piano didn't have those God awful bells attached. 

“No, no,” Kurt lets out. 

“Yes,” Blaine smiles, he makes a small courtesy bow, “you’re looking at the brand new pianist of that beautiful white lady over there.” Blaine points at the grand piano a few feet away from Kurt’s place in the jewelry department. 

Kurt pinches himself. If only he could wake up from this nightmare. He won't only have to endure Blaine, but also him singing Christmas songs. He wishes he had never taken the job in the jewelry department. But it wasn’t as if he had many other options. 

Unlike Blaine, Kurt’s eyes are positively fiery at the moment. If one could kill with a single glance, Blaine would be on the floor by now. Blaine already had his off-Broadway role, why did he have to get a job at the department store Kurt happened to be working at. 

“Well, I think I’m going to get going,” Blaine smiles at Kurt, only infuriating him more. It’s clear to Kurt how Blaine got the job. He can charm his way out of a paper bag. 

In reply to Blaine Kurt merely huffs. He is not looking forward to seeing his nemesis every single day leading up to Christmas. He thought he’d finally escaped him, but nothing was less true. 

Kurt wrestles his phone out of his pocket. He knows he isn’t allowed to text during work, but it isn’t busy and he doesn’t see his supervisor around. He simply needs to talk to someone about the situation. His best shot is Santana. 

**Kurt 12.14  
** Guess who just pranced in and will be here playing the piano until Christmas 

**Santana 12.16  
** Judging by how joyful you sound the hobbit just arrived

**Kurt 12.16** **  
** Too fucking right. Do I have permission to strangle him?

**Santana 12.17** **  
** With your tongue? ;)

**Kurt 12.18** **  
** Oh fuck off

**Santana 12.19  
** You know, it isn’t his fault you didn’t get on Broadway or into fashion

**Kurt 12.20  
** He got every role I ever auditioned for, it is HIS fault

**Santana 12.20** **  
** If that makes you sleep at night

**Kurt 12.24** **  
** I thought you were on my side

**Santana 12.24  
** There are no sides

Kurt hears the tell-tale clicking of the heels of his supervisor, so he pushes his phone back into his pocket, hoping she didn’t see anything. 

“Everything alright, Kurt?” Miranda asks him. She smiles at him, reminding him that he should be sporting a smile as well. 

“I guess,” Kurt replies, not wanting to disclose any further information. He glances at the grand piano and notices it’s still empty. 

“When will he start?” Kurt questions.

Miranda shrugs, looks at the time on her fitbit and says: “he should have started already.” As quick as she had arrived, she also vanishes. 

5 minutes later, the room is filled with a warm voice accompanied by a playful piano melody. 

  
  
  



	2. The second day of Christmas

Kurt gets to work at 8 AM, desperately hoping that a certain Blaine Anderson won’t be there. He is preparing for the day, unlocking all the locks and checking if his colleague left all the rings in the right places. He returns some to their spot but is generally happy with how his colleague left everything for him. He’s certainly seen worse. 

The morning is slow, which Kurt is thankful for. He likes taking time for his customers, making it his priority to make the customer smile. It is way more fulfilling to sell three beautifully fitting bracelets to an elderly lady who is treating herself than ten guys who come in to buy their girlfriend a standard necklace with a heart dangling on it. It’s not a thoughtful gift, nor is it as romantic as Kurt had always thought. Not even when you get the names engraved. It’s rather tacky or so Kurt believes after the number of times he’s seen it happen now. 

Kurt hears a familiar tune on the radio, one he heard before it was even out. He’s honestly surprised to hear it as the radio is constantly playing Christmas songs through the entirety of December, much to Kurt’s annoyance. He lets out a little squeal at hearing Mercedes on the radio though. He quickly thumbs his phone out of his back pocket, checks to see if anyone is approaching his counter and if his boss is far away. Once he establishes that the coast is clear, he types out a message. 

**Kurt 9.48** **  
** Cedes!! Guess what I just heard!!!

**Mercedes 9.59** **  
** It wasn’t colorblind by any chance was it?

**Kurt 10.01** **  
** It was! AAAAHH MY FRIEND IS A POPSTAR

**Mercedes** **10.02  
** I thought we went over this when you saw me in concert

**Kurt 10.02** **  
** Hush, let me be happy for you!

“Kurt, what have I told you?” Kurt is met with an angry glare from his boss and quickly shoves his phone back in his pocket. 

“Oh, yes, erm, I’m sorry?” Kurt mutters, not sure how to react to it. “It won’t happen again,” Kurt politely smiles at her. 

“That’s what you told me last time,” his boss rolls her eyes and walks away.

From one tragedy onto another, a way too chipper Blaine Anderson is approaching at 12 o’clock. Kurt sighs, not prepared for another conversation with Blaine. His good mood brought on by hearing his best friend’s song on the radio completely vanishes by the time Blaine reaches the counter. 

“Hi,” Blaine smiles at him. Kurt sighs but decides to be polite. He’s already on his boss’ bad side for using his phone, he can’t be scolded for being impolite too. 

“Look what I brought you,” Blaine says, holding up a cup of coffee. 

“W-what?” Kurt stutters, not expecting Blaine to bring him anything after how he treated them the day before. They weren’t exactly friends either. Blaine had been trying for a while, if it were up to him they’d be way more than friends, but Kurt had always declined his advances. 

“Coffee, it’s coffee, Kurt,” Blaine smiles at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“No need to get cocky,” Kurt slams back at him. “I was just surprised, is all.” 

“I wasn’t,” Blaine frowns. He puts the to-go cup with coffee on the counter and slides it towards Kurt. Kurt moves the fingers of his left hand towards the cup, while he scratches the back of his neck with the other, unclear how to react to Blaine. 

“Well, erm, thank you?” Kurt says questioningly. 

Blaine practically beams at him, “you’re very welcome!”

An awkward pause falls. Kurt looks around him, wishing a customer would come in to unburden him from Blaine, but luck isn’t on his side. 

“Maybe it’s better if you go,” Kurt suggests, he stares at the cup of coffee, still unsure what to do with it. He doesn’t know about the policy of drinking store-bought to-go coffee at work. He decidedly picks up the cup and places it on the lower counter, out of sight of the customers. It would be a sin to waste perfectly fine coffee even if it was brought to you by one of the people you’d rather not see.

"Before I go, can I ask you something?" Blaine bats his eyes like a toddler trying to get their way. 

Kurt sighs, "fine, but be quick. I've got customers to serve." 

Blaine looks around to see if someone is in fact coming up, but there's no one there. He shrugs, "what's your favourite Christmas song?" 

"Seriously, of all the questions, that's what you want to know?" Kurt rolls his eyes at the ridiculous question. 

"Yes," Blaine sounds persistent when he speaks. 

"I don't have one." 

"Kurt Hummel doesn't have a favourite Christmas song," Blaine gasps. 

"He doesn't and now go," Kurt makes a hand-gesture to enhance his statement. 

"Okay, okay, I'm going already," Blaine says, he winks in Kurt's direction, earning a slight gagging noise from Kurt. 

Blaine disappears into the direction of the break room, presumably to change into the outfit he’s expected to wear for the piano playing. Kurt takes a sip of the coffee and pulls a face, the coffee is more bitter than he expected or liked it to be. 

Soon he gets distracted by people wanting his help in picking out the finest of jewelry. He appreciates every customer, not just because they make the time pass quicker, but also because they distract him from Blaine playing the piano. 

He’s thankful that Blaine only plays for 2 hours(with a little break in between of course). He couldn’t possibly bear hearing him sing much longer. It was a constant reminder of what Kurt would never be. He would never be good enough to make it on Broadway. If he auditioned, the part always went to someone like Blaine, or rather Blaine himself.

“What’re you thinking about?” It suddenly sounds, Kurt shakes his head to break his train of thought. 

“Nothing,” Kurt says as he can feel his cheeks tinge a stark red. 

“Well, you’re blushing, so I don’t think it’s nothing,” Blaine comments teasingly. He attempts to wink but closes both eyes instead of just one. 

Kurt chuckles at the clumsiness, but then scolds himself for granting Blaine a reaction out of him. “It really is nothing. It’s just that I should be paying attention and I wasn’t,” Kurt explains. 

“Sure,” Blaine says offhandedly. “When do you get off?”

“Why are you asking,” Kurt frowns. 

“Just curious, you were here at 1 when I came in and now you’re still here,” Blaine shrugs. 

“Not everyone can earn their money playing silly Christmas songs, you know,” Kurt bites back. 

Blaine puts up his hands in surrender, “didn’t know that’d be a touchy subject. And I asked you for your favourite Christmas song so I could play it, but you didn’t give me an answer.”

“Has it never occurred to you that some people don’t like Christmas?” Kurt signs. 

Blaine shakes his head, “that’s impossible.”

“It’s not. Can you go now?” Kurt asks, not feeling like being polite anymore. Blaine simply gets on his nerves and his slip up from the morning is still fresh in his mind and even fresher in his boss’. He can’t afford to get mad at Blaine. 

“Let me show you that Christmas can be fun?” Blaine asks Kurt. His eyes big like those of a puppy, radiating honesty. 

“No,” Kurt turns away from Blaine to show him that their conversation has ended. 

Blaine walks around the counter to the other side to stand in front of Kurt. “Please, let me take you out on one Christmassy date, I won’t bother you any longer after that.”

“How often do I have to say no for you to understand that I don’t like you and certainly not like that,” Kurt says through gritted teeth. He has to try his hardest not to get aggressive with Blaine as he’s really had it now. 

“Opposites attract,” is all Blaine says before vanishing. 

“Opposites attract,” Kurt mocks angrily. He takes his scissors from the counter and roughly puts them back in their place in the drawer, hoping to release some of the anger coursing through his veins. He painstakingly looks at the clock, wishing for the tiny arm to make it to the 4 so he can finally go back home. 


	3. The third day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a trigger warning for robbery

Kurt has had another slow morning. He just hopes that means he’ll get a lot of distraction during the afternoon when Blaine usually comes in to play Christmas songs. Or even better, maybe Blaine won’t be in today. 

He doesn’t know Blaine’s schedule and he would ask for it, but then he’d come across as too eager, which he definitely isn’t. Blaine already has some sort of idea of the two of them together in his head and Kurt definitely shouldn’t feed into it. He’s tried asking his direct boss, but she’d just shrugged and told him Blaine was none of her business. After getting a wink from her, he decided not to pressure her because he didn’t want to deal with her teasing. Especially since there’s nothing there, but he’s been there before and the more you say nothing’s there the more people seem to think that you are into something, which is actually really stupid. 

When Kurt’s on his lunch break, Blaine struts in. Kurt sighs audibly, he isn’t feeling like having a conversation with Blaine, but knowing Blaine that’s exactly what he’ll do. 

“I saw Miranda behind the counter,” he smiles, “so I was hoping I would find you here.” 

“Wouldn’t be me,” Kurt says, munching on his sandwich. Good manners are only reserved for those who deserve it and Blaine clearly isn’t on that list. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Blaine asks with a frown on his face. He’s unwinding his scarf to discard it on the coat rack. 

Kurt just shrugs in response, maybe he should just ignore Blaine. Unkind remarks do not seem to work on him. He keeps glancing over to Blaine as he’s taking off his coat. 

“You’re not very conversational today, are you?” Blaine remarks, he toes off his shoes and neatly lines them up under his coat. 

“I’m trying to eat, Blaine,” Kurt says, but he sounds irritated, more so than he’d like. Blaine annoys him, but he doesn’t want Blaine to know how much he influences his mood. 

“Alright, guess you won’t mind me changing here,” Blaine shrugs and unzips the clothing bag holding his tux. 

Kurt grumbles, he just wants to have his lunch in peace. He hears the rustling of the unzipping of likely a pair of trousers and he can’t help looking over. Blaine has turned away from him, but Kurt can still see his ass clad in holiday-themed boxers. He wants to snicker because that seems exactly like an obnoxious thing Blaine Anderson would do, but any sound would give him away. 

“I can feel your eyes on my back, you know,” Blaine says and he turns around to catch Kurt quickly looking away. 

Kurt feels his cheeks going crimson, but he’s not gonna satisfy Blaine with that information. “If that makes you sleep at night, then sure, Anderson,” he bits in Blaine’s direction. He busies himself with putting his lunchbox back in his bag. 

“You could just admit it,” Blaine shrugs the shirt on and starts buttoning it up. 

“Admit what? You just like to flatter yourself,” Kurt scolds, pushing his chair back from the table. He disregards the breadcrumbs he’s spilt and takes his cup to the sink. He unceremoniously drops his bag on the peck by his jacket and he might bump into Blaine, who curses as the button slips from his fingers. 

“Watch where you’re going,” Blaine huffs. 

“Just don’t stand in my way,” Kurt rolls his eyes, “and you’re buttoning is askew.” 

Blaine looks down and grumbles when he realises Kurt is actually right. Kurt is out of the door before he can see Blaine’s reaction, but the grumble makes him feel slightly victorious for no apparent reason. 

Kurt walks back to his station in the jewelry department, glad to see that his boss is handling a customer, that’ll give him some time to recover from his weird walk in with Blaine. 

He lets himself behind the counter and starts cleaning up the miscellaneous bits and bobs lying around, waiting for his boss to finish up with the customer so he can return to his position. 

Kurt calls out a ‘nice day’-wish to the customer leaving and bits goodbye to his boss as she moves on to help someone else. 

He sees Blaine strutting in and taking place behind the piano. Blaine stretches his fingers and plays a few notes to find out if the piano is still tuned correctly. Kurt can’t see his face, but he knows Blaine just plastered his show smile on. 

Kurt sighs as Blaine plays the first notes of yet another annoying Christmas song. He can see Blaine’s arms moving from the back and he looks better than Kurt would like to admit. 

“Uhm,” someone says to Kurt’s right. Kurt snaps out of it and looks over to the right.

“Hi, oh, sorry, how can I help you?” Kurt asks as he plasters on his nicest smile. 

“I dunno,” the guy mutters, “just looking for something for my girlfriend.” 

“Oh, I’ve got the perfect idea for you, just over here,” Kurt says as he gestures towards the other side of the counter, to where the necklaces with heart pendants are. 

“Oh no, I did the heart pendant necklace last year,” he says, moving into the other direction with the more expensive items. Judging by the clothes the guy is wearing, Kurt doesn’t think he’ll be able to pay for the jewels. He carefully observes the guy, making sure he will be able to tell his details to the police in case his gut feeling turns out to be correct. 

“Sorry, I just assumed. It’s a very popular gift,” Kurt smiles politely. 

“I would like something more special for her,” the guy smiles back. 

“What kind of jewelry did you have in mind?” 

“Earrings, maybe,” the guy pensively stares into the display with diamond earrings. 

“What does she like?” Kurt asks.

“Well she isn’t very fancy actually,” the guy frowns. 

“Then we should move away from the diamonds perhaps.”

“Yes, I think I’ll just go for something simple,” he nods. 

“I know the perfect thing,” Kurt says as he opens one of the cabinets holding minimalistic earrings in sterling silver. 

“Thanks bro, that actually looks like something she might wear,” the guy beams back at him. The smile the guy gave him makes Kurt forget about his weird feeling. He helps the guy pick out the earrings and neatly wraps them. He pays for the earrings and thanks Kurt before leaving the store. 

“Excuse me,” a man in a fine tux steps closer to the counter, surprising Kurt. Kurt hadn’t even had the time to greet the man as he seemingly popped up out of nothing. 

“I’m looking for a ring for my mother,” the man says. He’s very straight forward, which is a relief to Kurt on this lousy afternoon. 

“What kind of ring would she like?” 

“She’s really into sparkle,” the man says, looking at the diamond ring in the display. 

“Do you know her ring size?” Kurt asks the man. He’s confused when the man says he doesn’t, he seemed so confident about this but he isn’t. 

“I tried on a ring she already owns and it fit perfectly on my pinky, so I know what size I need to get,” the man explains. Kurt doesn’t think much of it. 

“Would you like to try that one?” He points to the one the man had been staring at. He nods and Kurt takes it out, looking at the label for the sizing. He hands the ring to the man, who slides it on his pinky finger. He holds his hand in front of him to look at the ring. 

“Do you have something with a bit more colour?” 

“What colour were you thinking about?” 

“I don’t know, red maybe?”

“Alright, I’ll be right back,” Kurt turns around to look through the ruby and garnet rings. He selects a few and turns around to show them to the guy, but he has disappeared. 

“Hey,” Kurt screams as he sees the man disappearing, walking off quite quickly. 

“Stop, hey, security!” Kurt screams, pressing the button on his earpiece. 

Kurt doesn’t register that the music stopped playing as he’s way too stressed about having to pay for the ring the man is stealing. He can’t see security moving, so he’s afraid he won’t see it back anymore. 

“Stop,” he hears from a familiar voice. He sees Blaine jumping over furniture to get to the man who's trying to run off. Kurt feels his heart racing and he’s not sure it’s only from the man running away with an expensive ring shoved into his pocket. 

Many people are looking at the commotion, which causes the man to pick up his pace. Kurt can see Blaine catching up with him and grabbing onto him. Security quickly moves in as well and takes over from Blaine. Blaine holds up his hand and waits for the man to hand over the ring and ends up getting it. 

“I think you lost this, Mr Hummel,” Blaine says as he presents the ring to Kurt. 

“I, erm, yes, uhm, thank you,” Kurt stumbles, a crimson red for the second time that day. Having a pale complexion isn’t always very helpful. 

“You’re welcome,” Blaine smiles and then returns to his piano. 


	4. The fourth day of Christmas

The pace of the holidays is slowly settling in, Kurt notices that the pauses in between his customers are getting shorter and shorter. Luckily he’s still able to take his time with each and every customer. 

After dealing with a thief the day before, he’s still shaken up. He doesn’t feel very comfortable behind the counter. Normally, he doesn’t like it when his boss is around to watch his every move, but when she spent the better half of the morning with him, he was glad. Thankful even. 

The event had shaken up his sense of trust. He thought he was a fairly good judge of character, but he had been proven terribly wrong. Looks can be deceiving. 

“Do you think you can handle things alone now?” Miranda asks him as she glances at her wrist to see what time it is. 

Kurt nods apprehensively. He isn’t sure whether he can trust himself again, but he can try. Nothing has ever stopped him from trying before, so why the hell not. It had gotten him into the best school he ever wished he could. It had allowed him to do a double major in fashion and musical theatre, which no one ever thought he could do so successfully. Except for his dad, his dad had always believed in him. 

“No one pushes the Hummels around,” Kurt mutters over and over again the first few minutes after his boss left his side. 

“What are you saying?” It suddenly sounds, Kurt is shaken from his mantra and sees one Blaine Anderson standing opposite him. A to-go coffee cup in his hand once more. 

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Kurt says as he straightens out his shirt. He tucks in the bottom of his shirt a bit tighter before focussing on Blaine. 

“It’s okay if you’re not okay,” Blaine says softly. His eyes mimic his voice and seem way softer than they normally are, glossed over with worry even.

“What makes you think I’m not,” Kurt huffs. He doesn’t have time for silly games with someone he can’t stand. 

Instead of answering, Blaine pushes the cup of coffee towards Kurt, “I brought you coffee,” he smiles. 

Kurt has to bite back a smile. It is sort of nice when someone keeps bringing you coffee, even if you don’t necessarily agree with their intentions. He also can’t complain about saving money on buying himself some proper coffee before work or during one of his breaks. The coffee in the cafeteria at work just isn’t as good as some you can get on the go. 

“Thank you, I guess,” Kurt says hesitantly as he reaches out to take the cup from Blaine. 

“No, no, no, this one has a special feature,” Blaine grins and now that Kurt takes a better look, he can see some green springing from the sides of the cup. It better not be what he thinks it is. 

Blaine circles the cup around so that Kurt can get a full view of the special feature. “You can’t be serious,” Kurt snorts as he rolls his eyes and takes a step backwards. 

Blaine takes the cup in his hand and holds it up above the counter, “if you want it, you’ll have to kiss me, Hummel.” 

“To hell with it, Anderson,” Kurt says, taking another step backwards, promptly landing himself against the other side of the counter. He quickly turns around and makes sure he didn’t knock something off of it. 

“I had always gotten the impression you were quite fond of coffee and kissing boys,” Blaine says with a cheeky grin and the rise of an eyebrow. 

“I do like coffee and I also like kissing boys,” Kurt confirms, he can see Blaine’s eyes lighting up at the mention, ”but I don’t necessarily like you in any way, shape or form, nor is it appropriate to kiss boys at your workplace.” 

Blaine’s happy face falters and he places the cup back on the counter, pushing it in Kurt’s direction. “It was worth a try,” he shrugs and then leaves, leaving Kurt slightly perplexed. 

Kurt takes a sip of the coffee, his face scrunching up as he realises Blaine had gotten him a medium drip again, which is more bitter than his usual mocha. 

The entire afternoon Kurt is a bit off. He tries not to let it show to his customers, but between Blaine trying to get a kiss out of him by bringing a coffee adorned with mistletoe to his workplace and someone trying to rob him the day before he just can’t focus like he normally would. He’s not as talkative as he normally is when he serves the customers, but he tries his very best to still get them to walk away with a worthy gift, whether that is to themselves of to someone they love dearly. 

Blaine’s rich voice filling his ears for two hours straight isn’t helping either. It is a constant reminder of the weird instance that happened between them. It hadn’t been a secret that Blaine was into Kurt, never had been really. Even when they were in college, Blaine had made it clear he was into Kurt. In return, Kurt had also made it known that he didn’t want anything to do with Blaine, but Blaine either didn’t receive the message or didn’t want to receive it. 

Kurt couldn’t shake the proud face Blaine had made the day before when he returned the ring to Kurt out of his mind. It kept popping up, up and again. It was quite annoying. It added to the list of annoying things related to Blaine Anderson, just like him being so ridiculously talented that he had snatched away every single role Kurt had ever auditioned for or him landing a role off-Broadway before even getting a degree. 

Blaine continued to make it clear to show Kurt that he adored him, but Kurt didn’t understand why. He would never get a role on Broadway, so his degree in Musical Theatre be damned and his career in fashion was going so fabulously that he ended up in the jewelry section of a warehouse. He didn’t hate his job, but it also wasn’t what he’d imagined for himself. But he was certain that the constant reminder of Blaine and his achievements wasn’t going to help make him feel better. 

Kurt hasn’t noticed that the music stopped or that Blaine is walking up to his counter once again. No one could fault him for that though as he is just busy doing his job. 

Instead of waiting for his turn to speak to Kurt in line behind Kurt’s current client, who was next to the till as she should be, Blaine walks to the side of the oval counter that would allow him the best view of Kurt’s bum in case he bowed down. He pretends to intently look at the gold watches in the display in case the lady looks up at him. 

Kurt quickly helps the lady with her purchase and wraps it nicely. He sees her eyes flit to something behind him a couple of times and notices that she tries to rush the process. He takes a look in the nifty mirror, which shows him that Blaine is looking at him. The moment he sees Blaine, he can’t stop feeling his eyes on his body and he isn’t sure what to do with it. 

When the lady is out of earshot, Kurt turns around and leans against the counter before fixing his eyes on Blaine. “You could just have left, you perv,” he comments. 

“I just wanted to say goodbye to you,” Blaine says with a slightly hopeful smile. 

“Well, goodbye Blaine,” Kurt says as he turns around again, neatly putting the supplies he’d just used away. 

“I thought I’d said goodbye,” Kurt remarks at Blaine appears in front of Kurt once again. 

“You did, but I didn’t,” he muses. Kurt rolls his eyes. 

“Goodbye Kurt,” Blaine says with a wink and he throws a little wave towards Kurt. 

“Blaine,” Kurt yells, “Blaine, wait.” 

“You changed your mind? Am I getting that kiss after all?” Blaine asks as he walks back towards Kurt. 

“No, but I’ll allow you to keep getting me coffee though,” Kurt says with a little smile. He can feel his cheeks going slightly red, so he lowers his eyes and tries to pick up an invisible piece of fluff from the counter. 

“Oh, is that all?” Blaine asks jokingly. 

“Maybe a mocha instead of a drip,” Kurt doesn’t meet Blaine’s eyes, he makes sure to intently look over Blaine’s shoulder. 

“What makes you think you’ll get to make demands?” Blaine asks still in a joking manner. 

“Dunno, but if you want to, you know, make a good impression on me or something, then bringing me coffee I actually like might help you?” Kurt shrugs. He’s not sure why he even said it as he isn’t even interested in Blaine like that nor does he want to give Blaine the wrong impression. 

“I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe it’s more effective than a mistletoe after all.” 

“Maybe. Oh, and Blaine, I like your bowtie. It looks good on you,” Kurt says, tracing his fingers over his own bowtie, which isn’t nearly as cute or as festive as Blaine’s since it’s just plain black and not adorned with tiny Christmas trees. 

“I knew you’d like it,” Blaine grins. “See you tomorrow!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you for reading this! I hope it's getting everyone somewhat in the Christmas spirit, as it's harder this year. Anyway, sending everyone some good vibes for the weekend. :)


	5. The fifth day of Christmas

Kurt is groggy once he wakes up on Saturday morning. Santana and Brittany don’t seem to know how to honour a request for quiet after 10 PM. Kurt had explained to them that he’d have to do an early shift on Saturday morning, but they didn’t really seem to care. Or maybe they did, but the richly flowing alcohol had complicated the process. 

At first, Kurt had sat with them, relieved to have something to silence his mind that seemed to be screaming at him at every possible instance. He had drank a glass of wine with them and then bid them a goodnight. They were already giggly by then, but giggling he could handle. When they took it to Santana’s room later that night, that was a different story. He was happy the both of them seemed to have a great sex life, but he would’ve preferred not to hear anything of it. Certainly not when it kept him up at night and he desperately needed to sleep.

Kurt stretches another time and throws the blankets off of his body, quickly slipping into his robe and slippers. He hugs the robe close to his chest to channel the cold of being outside of the warmth of the blankets. For a moment he contemplates being loud just to pester the girls, but when he imagines how angry Santana would get, he decides against it. It’s not necessary to get such a reaction out of her, not would it make him feel better if he got into a fight with her before going to work. 

He quickly prepares a warm and healthy breakfast for himself and then proceeds to the bathroom to ready himself for the day. His bowtie isn’t cooperating and he just can’t tie it the way he likes it, which pisses him off just a little more. 

Once he gets to the train, it had just left although Kurt had no idea that he was running late. He looks at the display to see when the next one will come and lets out a sigh once he notices that it’ll be 15 minutes. Only then he realises that the train runs on a different schedule during the weekends. He kind of hates himself for forgetting it. If he walks quickly, he’ll be just in time for the start of his day. He’ll have to unpack when the store has opened already, but so be it. 

The moment Kurt steps into the store, he is faced with his boss. “Kurt,” she hisses, “why are you late?” She doesn’t necessarily sound angry, but she isn’t pleased either, which isn’t all that surprising. 

“I missed the train, I’m sorry,” Kurt apologises as he quickly sheds his jacket and straightens his outfit. 

“Well, open up quickly. We’ll have some new investors checking out the place today,” she says as she plasters a huge smile on her face. Kurt mimics the smile, but lets it falter the moment she’s out of sight. He takes in a deep breath of air, wishing he was anywhere but at his workplace. He isn’t up to entertaining investors, so he prays to a god he doesn’t believe in that they won’t get to his department in the store. 

Saturday just does not seem to be a good day for him. He’s dreading the rest of the day and can’t wait for it to be over. It’ll probably be extra busy since most people have the day off, but want to come before the true Christmas rush starts. 

The only thing that makes Kurt’s day a tiny bit better is the appearance of Blaine. He’d never thought he’d admit that, but it seems like he just did. Or at least, the tiny rush of happiness at seeing the curly haired boy did. But it’s just the coffee, or so Kurt tells himself. 

“Hi,” Blaine smiles timidly, pushing the carton holding Kurt’s coffee over the counter towards the other boy. 

“Hi,” Kurt smiles back, taking the cup of coffee and smelling it. He gets another surge of happiness when he can smell the chocolate on it. Blaine did bring him his mocha instead of the punchy drip he brought in before. 

“Thank you so much for that, I really needed it,” Kurt admits as he takes a sip of the coffee. 

“Early morning?” Blaine asks, waiting for Kurt to spill everything. 

Kurt shrugs and sighs as he sees a rather determined woman approaching the jewelry section. 

“Things just haven’t been going like I wish they would,” Kurt sighs again. He looks around Blaine to make eye contact with the lady. He doesn’t want to give her the impression that she isn’t welcome. 

Blaine notices Kurt looking and looks behind him, noticing the woman as well. “Oh sorry, I’ll go now,” Blaine excuses himself. He steps aside to let her pass him. 

“Wait, are you playing today?” Kurt quickly asks, he smiles at the woman and gives her a quick wave to show he had seen her. 

“I am,” Blaine smiles at him. “Any request?”

“Anything but Christmas music,” Kurt remarks, wrinkling his forehead a little as he shows his disregard of Christmas music. 

“It’s in the contract for me to play them,” Blaine says with a shrug. Kurt wrinkles his nose again and then turns towards the lady, who’s patiently waiting for him to wrap up his conversation, to help her.

“What’s so bad about Christmas music,” the lady asks amusedly. Kurt shrugs in response, he’s not gonna tell his life story to explain his hatred for Christmas to the woman. 

“Just isn’t my thing I guess,” he replies politely, but in such a way to make clear he will not elaborate on it. 

“I was hoping you’d be able to help me with a present for my wife though,” she smiled at him. 

“Sure,” Kurt replies, trying to sound cheerful. “What were you thinking about? Earrings? A bracelet?”

“A nipple piercing actually,” she says, looking at him daringly. 

Kurt is a little shocked at the unconventional request. They do not sell any piercing other than the few nose piercings that come boxed already. “I’m afraid we do not sell those, madam,” he says, looking around, trying his hardest to recall them. 

The woman starts laughing, “I know, love. You just seemed a bit uptight, especially after that lovely conversation you had with that boy.”

Kurt tries not to let the confusion show on his face. “So, how can I help you? Would you be interested in anything else or can I direct you to the nearest piercing shop maybe?”

“No worries,” she looks at his name tag, “Kurt, you’re fine. I’d like to buy her some cufflinks instead.” 

Cufflinks, that’s something he can do and it’s also something different, especially for a woman. “Sure, let me get them for you,” Kurt says as he pulls out the box holding cufflinks. 

The pair debates the cufflinks for a while and in the end, they find the perfect pair. Kurt neatly wraps them, with some additional care as the woman was so lovely to him. 

Kurt listens to Blaine’s music, hating that it makes him feel a bit better about his day. He doesn’t like Christmas music, but somehow it’s quite soothing when Blaine Anderson of all people is singing. He also deals with some customers and waiting for his shift to end.

Just before he leaves his station, his boss approaches him. She looks awfully cheery in comparison to how he found her that morning. “Kurt! You did amazing with our inverstor, she loved you,” she declares happily. 

“Wait? I handled the investor?” Kurt is a bit confused, but then his mind goes to the woman who came in wanting a nipple piercing for her wife. “Did she try to buy a nipple piercing by any chance?”

Miranda makes finger guns at him, which is awfully uncool, “that’s the one.” 

Kurt rolls his eyes, “well, I’m glad it worked out well. Can I leave now?” He doesn’t wait for a response, but quickly starts to walk away. If he hurries, he’ll be able to catch the last song of Blaine’s. 

He’s in luck and hides behind one of the obnoxiously large Christmas trees to listen to Blaine’s final song, Have Yourself A Merry Christmas. Once the last note has been played, Kurt walks up to the piano. 

“Hi,” Blaine smiles as he sees him walking up. Blaine’s eyes are immediately on him, it’s almost as if he knew Kurt was waiting behind the tree, pretending not to like the song. 

“Hi yourself,” Kurt smiles in return, “finally done ruining my mood?”

“Ruining your mood? You seem awfully chipper for someone with a ruined mood,” Blaine says as he carefully studies Kurt’s face. The intense stare on his face makes Kurt blush slightly. 

“Well, erm, yes, I just wanted to thank you for the coffee. You don’t have to keep bringing it to me,” he says as he plays with the hem of his shirt. He can’t handle the intense stare, so he just makes sure he isn’t staring back at him. 

“If you keep having bad days, then maybe I should keep on bringing coffee to cheer you up,” Blaine says sweetly as he softly touches Kurt’s chin to lift his face so they’re eye to eye again. 

“You’re acting as if every single day of my life is a bad one, which isn’t the case,” Kurt is only lying a little. Not every day of his life is miserable, but more often than not he does despise going into work to fake the Christmas joy. 

“Your face lighting up when I place a cup of coffee on the counter begs to differ,” Blaine says. “I mean, I’d say it’s me who does that, but I think you’d tell me I’m delusional.”

It seems that Blaine does know a thing or two about Kurt. “You are correct, you’re delusional, but if it makes you sleep at night, then imagine away,” Kurt teases. He doesn’t know if he’s serious or not, but it’s just so easy to tease Blaine. 

“Maybe I will,” Blaine says, it seems as if he’s coming back to earth and realises he’s in the middle of a department store next to a piano he’s just played for two hours. “I, erm, I’m gonna get changed.” 

Blaine starts walking away, “wait,” Kurt calls out. 

“A medium drip?” he asks. Blaine frowns, clearly not understanding what Kurt is on about. “Is that your coffee order?” Kurt ads. 

“Yes,” Blaine confirms, then he turns and leaves. So does Kurt, he goes home, planning on bringing Blaine some coffee the next time he sees him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saint Nicholas altho it isn't incorporated in this fic


	6. The sixth day of Christmas

“Kurt, Kurt,” someone screams into his ear. He can feel the bed dip beside him, he turns around towards the wall trying to get away from the person next to him.

“We know you’re awake,” he hears from a bit further away. He sighs, knowing Brittany is poking him in the back while Santana is watching them. He can picture her leaning against the doorpost with her arms folded over her chest, an amusing look on her face. 

“But I didn’t want to be, how late is it?” Kurt sighs as he pushes himself into a sitting position, the blankets pooling at his waist. 

“It’s 10, what are you so grumpy for,” Brittany asks, worming her way under the blankets. 

“Britt? What’re you doing?” 

Brittany shrugs, “It’s nice and warm here and San kicked me out of the bed.”

Kurt looks over at Santana, throwing an angry glare her way. She looks like an angel though, smiling innocently. 

“Come,” Brittany says as she holds up the blanket and motions for Santana to come into the bed as well. A slightly devilish grin appears on her face for a moment and then she runs towards the bed and jumps on top of Kurt’s legs. 

“Oof, ouch,” Kurt groans. Santana isn’t heavy, but the impact of her landing is a little unexpected. He just wasn’t quick enough to pull his legs to his chest. 

“Are you implying that I’m fat, Hummel?” Santana says playfully as she wriggles her ass on his legs. 

“That’s not very nice,” Brittany remarks. She looks at Santana and takes her hand in hers. 

“I’m not and you can’t possibly be comfortable like that,” Kurt moans. Santana lifts her body the tiniest bit for him to retract his legs, almost at the speed of light, because who knows how long this’ll last. 

Brittany’s gaze shifts from Santana to Kurt, “So, what are we doing today?” 

“I was hoping to sleep in,” Kurt shrugs. Santana bursts out laughing. 

“It’s 10, Kurt!” She exclaims, “you’re acting as if we woke you at the break of dawn, but the city has been up for like forever.” 

Kurt rolls his eyes, ”we’re in the so-called city that never sleeps.”

“Yes, so why are you sleeping?” Brittany asks. Kurt has to bite his cheek to keep up the grumpy act, which it is by now. 

“I’m not, you just woke me,” he grumbles, which is harder than it should be. 

“Oh drop the act,” Santana calls him out, she grabs the pillow next to Brittany and threatens to hit Kurt with it. 

“No pillow fight, please,” Kurt says, knowing it’s basically an invite for Santana to hit him. He just hopes Brittany won’t join in on it. “I swear, if you hit me we’re not doing anything today.”

“Santana, stop,” Brittany says, taking the pillow out of her girlfriend’s hand. “You promised to be nice to Kurt.”

Kurt knew there was a reason he basically allowed Santana’s girlfriend to move in with them. 

“Oh, please, he can handle it.” Santana is not just dropping the subject. 

“I probably can, but I don’t wanna find out right now,” Kurt sighs, taking the pillow from Brittany and propping it up behind him like he had done with his own pillow. “Anyway, what do you guys have planned for today?”

“Nothing, we just wanted to hang out with you,” Brittany says sweetly. Kurt can’t help but smile looking at her. 

“Is it a movie night kind of day or more of a walk in Central Park kind of day?”

“Please, I can’t handle another day of romcoms or even worse musicals,” Santana sneers, looking disapprovingly at both Kurt and Brittany, knowing fully well that the two are two peas in a pod when it comes to picking a movie. 

“Okay, okay, Central Park it is,” Kurt answers, not feeling like having a fight. He just wants a nice day with his best friend and her girlfriend, who, if he’s honest with himself, is also quickly becoming one of his best friends. 

Brittany excitedly claps in her hands. “I can’t wait to finally wear my new head,” she squeals happily. “You have to wear yours as well,” she turns to Santana. 

The little moment makes Kurt feel more alone than ever. Something about the holiday spirit has been influencing him lately, somehow it has been making him feel quite lonely lately. Seeing his friend coupled up is just enhancing that feeling. He knows he could easily solve it by giving Blaine what he wants, but something in him still can’t stand Blaine. Or his stupid happy face whenever he sees Kurt. No one has ever looked at him like that and it’s still something he cannot wrap his head around, as he doesn’t think he’s likeable at all. He’s failed more often than he’s succeeded. 

“Hello, earth to Kurt?” Santana is waving her hands in front of his face. 

“What?” Kurt snaps. 

“Pancakes,” Brittany cheers, she’s already standing in the door opening, waiting for the others to follow her. 

“Sure, but I’m not making them,” Kurt says as he lies down again. 

“Please?” Santana bats her eyes at him. He groans, knowing if he leaves the cooking up to his friends the fire alarm is likely to go off soon. 

“Okay,” he throws the blankets off his body and shivers as the cold hits him. Brittany is quick to throw his robe his way.

Kurt cooks them a quick breakfast which they eat together on the sofa. It's actually a very nice way to start the day, although Brittany and Santana are a bit too couple-y for his liking. They get dressed and take the train to Central Park. 

"I wish it snowed," Brittany says as she shoves her gloved hand in Santana's. She holds her other hand out for Kurt to take when she sees him staring at their hands, but he declines the offer with the shake of his head. 

He's already third-wheeling, it doesn't have to get worse by a pity handhold. He wishes he had a hand to warm his though. A short flash of slightly tanned hands pushing a coffee cup over to him crosses his mind. If he wasn't so stubborn he could have that. He reminds himself that he isn't stubborn, but that dating Blaine would only make everything worse. The rivalry would drive them apart eventually. He might have a stable job as of now, but he isn't giving up on getting a role on Broadway. Knowing Blaine, he'd probably just snatch the role away from him no matter what. 

"Kurt, what's making you slow down?" Brittany looks behind her with concern written all over her face. 

"I, erm, I was just checking if it'd snow any time soon," Kurt lies. Brittany shrugs and waits for him to catch up. 

Santana manoeuvres them around in such a way that she ends up next to Kurt. "Nice save, Hummel," she mutters. 

He knew Santana would be on to him. "Oh just shut up, would you?" 

"Sure thing, Mrs Anderson," she smirks at him. 

Kurt grumbles, but decides it's best not to say anything. 

Brittany might not have caught what the two were talking about, but she still knows her girlfriend said something to upset Kurt. "Santana, be nice. You promised me." 

"I was just teasing him, he'll be fine," she says, dragging the fine. It's enough to please Brittany who goes back to looking for squirrels. 

They spend the rest of the afternoon walking through Central Park, get themselves a nice cup of tea in a cute little tea room once they're close to becoming icicles and Kurt tries his hardest not to think about a curly-haired someone. 


	7. The seventh day of Christmas

That Monday morning, Kurt gets up 15 minutes earlier. The day before he searched their entire apartment for the thermos his dad had brought with him once upon a time. In the end, he found it lingering in Santana's room with just a little mold in it. He had shrieked and taken it to the sink to rinse it out and scrub it for about 15 minutes. 

Once his alarm clock goes off, he doesn't know what possessed him, but he still gets up. He is set on getting Blaine some coffee from his favourite coffee shop around the corner. Blaine usually comes in a couple of hours after he does, so therefore he needs the thermos, he can't give Blaine coffee that was warm circa 2 hours ago. But after Blaine caught that thief for him, it's the least he could do. It was only yesterday in the tea room that he realised he'd never repaid Blaine. 

On his way to work, Kurt has the thermos filled with a drip, which is the coffee order Blaine had provided him with 2 days before. Kurt feels a strange rush of excitement at the idea of giving the cup to Blaine. He can just picture Blaine smiling widely at the thoughtful little gift. 

Kurt spends the entire morning in a very cheerful mood, just waiting for Blaine to get in. He’s a bit later than he normally is, which makes Kurt very nervous. He had it all planned out, but Blaine isn’t there. He hopes he’ll have enough time to give Blaine his coffee. 

“Hi!” Blaine suddenly pops up when Kurt is staring longingly at the piano. 

“Oh, hi,” Kurt smiles shyly, he doesn’t know what’s happening to him. He normally isn’t shy and certainly not around Blaine. 

“What’s gotten into you today?” Blaine questions, frowning a little. 

“I, erm, I brought you coffee?” Kurt says, looking around where he left the thermos. 

“You did?” Blaine asks, he seems very much surprised at the gesture. 

“Yes,” Kurt smiles at him. He’s fiddling with the lid of a cup of coffee of his own.

Kurt remembers where he put the thermos and quickly takes it out of its resting place. “Here,” he says as he presents it to Blaine. 

“Oh, erm, thank you,” Blaine says, almost at a loss for words. “I brought you some too.”

“You have two coffees now, don’t you?” Kurt asks, feeling very stupid. Blaine brought him coffee two days in a row, of course, he would bring some today. And of course, he also bought coffee for himself. What was he even thinking, as if he would be special enough that Blaine would go out of his way to get him coffee and get nothing for himself. 

“I don’t,” Blaine says, a soft expression on his face. Kurt is a bit confused, but Blaine quickly clears it up. “I got myself a tea this morning.”

“Oh,” Kurt chuckles softly, not sure how else to react. “Anyway, I hope you like the coffee. I got it from my favourite place this morning.” Kurt’s cheeks are tingling with a red blush again, he’s stopped counting how often that happens when Blaine’s around.

“Thank for the coffee, Kurt,” Blaine says. Kurt can see him looking between the coffee and Kurt’s face. Blaine leans in the tiniest bit and for a split second Kurt’s afraid Blaine is going to kiss him. 

The near kiss, as Kurt thinks it is, brings him back with his feet firmly on the ground. How could he let himself go like that? Blaine has ruined every opportunity you’ve ever had, he reminds himself. The cheer he felt all day is gone, replaced by a feeling of annoyance. 

The sounds of lively piano music fill the room and possibly make Kurt feel even worse. He’s reminded of how much he hates Christmas. He has to try his hardest not to show his dismay to his customers. 

At the end of his shift, Kurt is tired like he’s never been before. He just wants to go home and go to sleep. It wasn’t even a particularly busy day, but the intense feelings he had all day left him drained. 

“Kurt, Kurt!” He hears as he leaves the break room. He hears quick footsteps before he can turn around to see who it is, he hadn’t been paying attention before. 

“Oh Blaine,” he sighs as Blaine catches up with him. “What do you want?” Kurt sighs, sounding more hostile than he wants to. He honestly doesn’t know what’s going on with him anymore. 

“I just wanted to return this,” he holds out the thermos and Kurt takes it from him. 

“Oh, yea, right, thanks,” Kurt says. He tries very hard not to meet Blaine’s eyes. He stuffs the thermos into his bag and fastens the buttons on his coat. 

“Wait, no, don’t leave,” Blaine goes to stand in front of him, grabbing both of his arms. Kurt tries to shake them off, but his grip is quite firm. “I wanted to ask you something,” Blaine explains. 

Kurt rolls his eyes, expecting Blaine to ask him out once again, but he doesn’t. “Erm, you know you got me coffee, I got you coffee and I just don’t want us both to waste out money on coffee and uhm-” 

Before Blaine can finish his sentence and ask Kurt about what’s been bothering him, Kurt interrupts, “money is never wasted if it’s spent on coffee.”

“Yes, I agree with that, but, erm, what I wanted to ask you is. Erm, would you maybe be okay with giving me your number?” Blaine looks at him hopefully and then ads, “you know, so we don’t get two coffees again?” 

“If it means that you’ll let go of me,” Kurt says, he’s not sure whether he wants Blaine to have his number but he also doesn’t want to say no. 

“Sure,” Blaine says as he quickly releases his grip on Kurt’s arms. He wiggles his phone out of his back pocket and hands it to Kurt before Kurt can get his phone out. 

Kurt takes his phone and enters his number. “There you go. I’ll see you.” Kurt steps aside to escape Blaine. 

It’s only on the train that Kurt realises he only gave Blaine his number, he doesn’t have Blaine’s. He doesn’t need the number, but he wants it. He feels restless take him over. He needs to know. 

Once he gets home, Santana is already there as well. She asks him about his day, but he doesn’t really answer. Normally he complains about something or recounts a particularly cute story.

“What’s got you in a funk Hummel,” Santana says as she places a cup of tea in front of him. 

“It’s nothing,” he says, cupping the mug. He’s not planning on telling Santana anything because he’s not ready to get teased mercilessly. He feels a buzz in his pants and gets his phone out to see whether it’s a text from Blaine. It isn’t, it’s just his phone asking for an update. He places his phone on the table, screen down. 

“You can always tell me, you know that right?” Santana tells him as she sits down opposite him. 

“I told you, it’s nothing,” Kurt is persistent. 

“Nothing about Blaine Anderson?” Santana asks. She’s getting on his nerves now. It’s worse when she’s actually right. 

He turns his phone over again to see if he has a new message. He doesn’t. 

“Are you waiting on a message from him?” Santana tries to pry an answer out of him. 

“I’m not,” Kurt snaps back. If this will be going on for much longer, he has no other choice than to lock himself into his room. 

“Take it from me and text him first Kurt, saves a lot of stress,” Santana pushes her chair back and gets up. She sassily flips her hair back and looks at Kurt with a knowing look. 

“You need to have his number to do that,” Kurt gives in. 

“Oh no, you made the rookie mistake and gave him your number but didn’t ask for his in return, didn’t you?” Santana looks sort of sorry for him. 

“I might have, I just wanted to get away from him as fast as possible, okay?” Kurt says, getting frustrated with the situation again. His feelings have been all over the place and he didn’t really like it to be honest. He wondered if girls on their period felt like this. 

“Patience, Kurt, patience,” Santana tells him as she sits down on the sofa to watch some telly. Kurt wishes he had something to do, but he doesn’t really know how to make himself busy so he just sits down next to Santana. 

Kurt and Santana spend the remainder of the afternoon watching trashy television. Kurt a bit on the edge as he’s still waiting for Blaine to send him a message. Just before Kurt starts dinner, he finally gets a message from Blaine, simply informing him about his number. The restlessness Kurt felt, leaves his body once he reads the message. 

“He really had your knickers in a twist, damn Hummel,” Santana teases him. 

“Oh shut up, as if you weren’t like this with Brittany,” Kurt tries to shut her up.

“Did you just equate me and Brittany to yourself and Blaine?” Santana smirks at him. He realises that he’s said too much. He didn’t mean it like that, but the more he tries to explain the situation the more Santana will tease him, so he just shuts up. He returns to cooking dinner. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I've prewritten, so now we gotta keep our fingers crossed I'll be able to find time to update every day up until Christmas. After 17/12 I am a free woman, so I'll catch up then if I miss any updates. Quality above quantity for me!


	8. The eighth day of Christmas

“Hi,” Blaine smiles as he sees Kurt in the breakroom, eating a salad. “I got your message,” he says as he holds a cup of coffee up in the air. 

Kurt smiles back at him and happily takes the cup of coffee out of his hand. “Thank you,” he says, genuinely meaning it. ”How are you?” 

“So you’re in a particularly nice mood today,” Blaine tells him. “I’m good though, better now,” he cheesily grins at Kurt as he sits down on the table next to Kurt’s lunch box. He puts his feet up on the chair and looks at Kurt, “you?”

Kurt plays with some pieces of tomato, shoving them around. “I’m good too, thanks,” he smiles back up at Blaine. 

“What time do you get off today?” Blaine asks, a hopeful look in his eyes. 

Kurt just shoved a forkful of salad in, so he quickly chews before answering Blaine and telling him they’re off at the same time. 

“That’s great,” Blaine’s smile only seems to be growing as he pushes himself from the table. He walks over to his costume, getting ready to change. 

Kurt sees it as his cue to pack up his lunch and get back out there again. He caught Blaine getting dressed once, that doesn’t need to happen another time. He has more than enough imagery to last him a lifetime. 

“I’ll, erm, I’ll go,” Kurt stammers as he shoves his lunchbox into his bag and rushes to put it on his peck by his jacket. He forgets his coffee so he quickly makes a detour to pick it up. He can’t help himself but steal a glance at Blaine, who’s just taken off his shirt. Blaine Anderson has no right looking that handsome shirtless, Kurt decides. He hopes he can focus the rest of his shift. It certainly doesn’t help that he can watch Blaine’s back, which he now knows how it looks without a shirt on, throughout the remainder of it.

Kurt prides himself in how focused he actually was on his customers, he reduced the staring at Blaine to the absolute minimum. He didn’t have any complaints. Well, except of course for the fact that Blaine is still playing Christmas songs, which are still not his cup of tea. 

Blaine ends his playing before Kurt’s shift ends. Kurt expects him to come out and talk to him for the last few minutes of his shift, but Blaine is nowhere to be seen. He feels slightly disappointed at that. He can’t explain how or why, but he does kind of like Blaine’s company. On the upside, Blaine hadn’t left either because Kurt would’ve been able to see that. 

When Kurt gets to the breakroom, he can see Blaine pacing back and forth, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. Blaine seems a bit nervous and Kurt isn’t sure why. 

“Are you okay?” Kurt asks Blaine, a worried frown on his face. 

“Oh, hi, Kurt,” Blaine says, sounding surprised. A bit too much even. “Yes, I’m okay,” he smiles politely at that. 

“Then why are you pacing? It seems as if your world is falling apart and you have to make a hard choice on who to save or something,” Kurt rambles. He normally isn’t a rambler, but the situation is making him very uncomfortable and apparently, this is his way of trying to make it better. 

“For the record, I’d save you,” Blaine winks. “I, erm, I wanted to ask you something?”

“Is that why you’re giving a border collie a run for its money?” 

Blaine squints at him, seemingly not entirely sure what Kurt’s saying. “All border collies I know seem to be incredibly nervous,” Kurt explains.

“Oh, right,” Blaine mutters, cheeks turning a slight pink in embarrassment. 

“But you wanted to ask me something?” Kurt asks, he shrugs on his coat and starts buttoning it up as he waits for Blaine to speak up again. 

“Yes, would you, erm, would you go to a gift wrapping workshop with me?” There’s a cautious tone to Blaine’s voice. 

Kurt wants to laugh at the question. He works in retail, behind the counter. He’s wrapped thousands of gifts in his lifetime. He doesn’t want to embarrass Blaine any further tough. “When?” Is all he asks.

“I know this is a shot in the dark, but in like an hour?” Blaine sheepishly scratches the back of his neck as he looks at Kurt with big hopeful eyes. Kurt hasn’t shot him down yet after all. 

“Why not?” Kurt agrees. It’s not like he has anything better to do. Maybe he even picks up a new wrapping skill, although he highly doubts it. Otherwise there’s always the shared laughter over people terribly messing up their wrapping. 

“Did you just agree to go out with me?” Blaine has a sparkle in his eyes, the mischief has been unlocked. 

“No, I agreed to go to a gift wrapping workshop with you,” Kurt corrects him. 

“And how’s that different?” Blaine challenges him. 

“You never used the word date, so this is not a date,” Kurt says matter of factly. He puts his bag on his shoulder and crams his hands into his pockets. 

“And if I want it to be?” Blaine asks, probably knowing he’s pushing the boundaries. 

“In your dreams, Anderson. This is just an outing between friends.”

“So we’re friends now? That’s an upgrade in my eyes.” 

The comment makes Kurt laugh, because of the lack of anything else to do, Blaine joins in as well. It also seems to be a release of the tension for him. 

“C’mon, if we leave now, we’ll make it in time.” Kurt follows Blaine out of the door, allowing him to take the lead. They take the train to the other side of the City, leaving Kurt to wonder where the hell Blaine lives. 

Blaine explains that the sister of one of his high school friends is the one who organised the workshop and who will be instructing them. He doesn’t normally hang out in this part of the City either, but since he got invited he wanted to go. 

Kurt and Blaine are the last to arrive for the workshop, but they’re just in time. The woman welcomes them and tells them to sit down and make themselves comfortable as she explains the first wrapping technique. Kurt watches carefully but quickly discovers that this one is part of his arsenal already. 

When the paper is handed out, he quietly watches Blaine struggle. “Why aren’t you doing anything?” Blaine hisses in his direction. He just pushed his ‘gift’, an empty box, forward in frustration. 

“Did it ever occur to you that I do this for a living?” Kurt teases him. Blaine’s cheeks turn crimson once again. 

“Shit, oh sorry, gosh I’m so stupid,” Blaine softly hits himself against his forehead. 

“It’s okay,” Kurt smiles. He checks where the instructor is and then pulls Blaine’s present in his direction. He neatens the folds, removes a few pieces of tape and gives the present back to Blaine. “Maybe that’ll make it easier,” he winks at him. 

Yes, Kurt Hummel just blinked at Blaine Anderson. And yes, he a feeling of shame was overtaking him. 

Kurt quickly wraps his own present as time is running out. He makes sure it doesn’t look as good as Blaine as he wants him to get complimented by the instructor. 

She asks everyone to hold up their present and comments on each and every one of them, complimenting Blaine’s most. Mission accomplished, Kurt thinks. 

“It’s all thanks to him though,” Blaine quickly admits as he points in Kurt’s direction. Kurt shakes his head and feels his cheeks and the tips on his ears warming up. He gives Blaine an angry glare when the attention isn’t on them anymore. 

The instructor explains the next technique, still nothing new to Kurt. This time, Blaine is a bit better. He mimics the way Kurt folded the paper on the previous present and finds that it is way easier to do it that way. Kurt feels proud as he watches Blaine progress, not paying much attention to his own wrapping skills though. 

Kurt enjoys the full 2 hours the workshop takes up. When the instructor asks him why he isn’t fully participating, he explains he works in retail and already knows how to do most things. She asks if he wants to learn some new techniques still, but he tells her no. He rather likes being able to watch and assist Blaine. 

Blaine seems to like the attention as well. So much so that he asks Kurt if he can take him home after the workshop, Kurt reluctantly agrees. Blaine takes them to a coffee shop before heading to the train, saying they deserve it after their afternoon spent gift wrapping. 

It’s busy on the train, so Kurt and Blaine are sandwiched together and Kurt doesn’t mind it as much as he thought he would. He just voluntarily spent the entire afternoon with Blaine Anderson and he’d actually enjoyed it. If he’s completely honest with himself, he’d do it again, but he doesn’t want to admit that just yet. 

“We need to switch here,” Kurt says, he takes Blaine by the hand and quickly pulls him to his feet to get out just before the doors close on them again. 

“Sorry,” he says as he releases Blaine’s hand. “I didn’t want to be too late. Also sorry for not telling you we need to switch here earlier,” Kurt looks at the ground as he apologises. 

Blaine reassures him with a soft touch on his arm and a warming smile. It makes Kurt feel slightly better. 

“We need to go to the yellow train and then it’s just five stops,” Kurt explains, making sure to avoid another fiasco like just happened. 

“Really? That’s the next stop from mine actually,” Blaine says to fill the awkward silence between them. 

This train is even busier than the first one, so they don’t even attempt to get a seat. It’s just a couple of stops anyway. Kurt tries to convince Blaine that he can just get off at his own stop, but Blaine is adamant at getting Kurt back to his apartment in one piece. In the end, Kurt gives in and lets him take him home. 

“You don’t have to come up,” Kurt says as he takes his keys out to open the door to his apartment building. “You already came all the way here.”

“I already came all the way here, so why can’t I just came up to the front door?” Blaine asks him. 

Kurt doesn’t want Blaine to come up because he knows Santana will have a field day if she finds out Kurt spent the afternoon with Blaine, but he can’t tell Blaine that. So he reluctantly agrees that Blaine takes him to his front door. 

Blaine says goodbye to him with an awkward parting hug. Kurt quietly tells him he’ll see him tomorrow before shutting the door in his face. He’s praying Santana didn’t hear Blaine, but knowing her, she probably did. 

Kurt doesn’t even get the chance to open the door to the living room. 

“So Hummel, was that Anderson dropping you off from a hot steamy date?” Santana says, taking Kurt’s scarf and unwrapping it from his neck as he unbuttons his jacket himself. 

“No, it wasn’t?” Kurt says with a frown. 

“Then why are you blushing?” Santana questions him, calling him out on his bullshit. 

“I was with Blaine, but we didn’t go on a date,” Kurt defends himself. “I don’t even like him like that.”

“Yea, sure,” is all Santana says before leaving the hallway. 

“What?” Kurt says a bit annoyed. He isn’t sure whether he’s annoyed with himself or with Santana. 

“You’re madly in love with him, have been for a while and that’s the truth, Kurt. When will you realise that?” Santana tells him. She states it in such a way that there is no questioning the truth.

“I am not? I despise him, I only went to that goddamned gift wrapping workshop with him because I thought I’d learn something,” Kurt defends himself. He’s standing with a hand on his hip to give his statement some more force. 

“Whatever,” Santana says, driving Kurt crazy.

He’s not in love with Blaine and he’ll prove it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go, a chapter after all :)


	9. The ninth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday. Things got a bit crazy with uni and I had some family business to sort out. This is up a bit earlier than normally because I hope to get another update up in a couple of hours.

Kurt is dreading work that morning, so much so that he contemplates calling in ill. But he doesn’t like being a bad employee, nor does he think it’s fair to do during the holiday season. 

He spent the majority of the night up, thinking about how he could get rid of Blaine and the way he makes him feel. He doesn’t like Blaine’s ability to make his stomach flutter with the just tiniest smile. Blaine has always taken every opportunity he had from him. It is obvious that Blaine is better than him and he isn’t sure whether he could bear that in a relationship. 

If Kurt allows himself to daydream, then he can’t help but let his thoughts go to Blaine. However, rational thinking tells him that allowing Blaine to come closer to him is the single worst thing he could do. 

So, he doesn’t like Blaine Anderson. He can’t like him, so he doesn’t. That’s what he keeps telling himself and the more he repeats it, the more he believes it, even if it feels a little wrong. 

Before he leaves his apartment, he texts Blaine not to get any coffee. He doesn’t inform him that he’s not getting Blaine any either, but it’s one of the few things he can do to reduce contact with Blaine. 

Once he gets to work, he sees the grand piano and silently wishes it wasn’t there. It would make it harder for Blaine to come in if he didn’t have a reason to other than to see Kurt. Kurt is certain Blaine would’ve never even tried as hard as he is now if he hadn’t gotten the gig. 

Kurt watches the clock, wishing for it to go slower the closer it gets to Blaine arriving for his shift. 

Blaine hasn’t gotten the memo and shows up earlier than he normally does. He goes straight to the jewelry department and Kurt feels worse with each passing second. He feels bad about going back to being icy with Blaine, but he knows there is no other option. 

Blaine is already smiling as he approaches Kurt and not just any smile, no it's a rather large one. "Hi," his eyes light up when Kurt's eyes shortly meet his. Kurt acknowledges him but desperately tries not to meet his eyes after that moment.

Kurt doesn't reply though. He pointedly looks the other way and makes himself busy doing nothing. The dread of the moment playing out in front of him had made him clean the department twice over already. He didn’t want to imagine the look on Blaine’s face. At first, he didn’t care about the way Blaine felt, but he can’t deny that he does now.

He knows the way he acts is overly childish, but he feels like it's the only way for him to get what he wants, which is inner peace. He doesn't want to give Blaine hope that there's a future for them in which they're all buddy-buddy like the day before. He might've said they're friends but he despises clingy friends. He needs room for air, room to be himself, room to think for himself. He doesn't get that with Blaine in proximity. 

Blaine takes a couple of steps into Kurt's view, trying to get in contact with him after all. "Kurt?"

He doesn't reply, although he does look around checking whether any potential customers can see him being rude.

"You know what?" Blaine huffs. "Two can play this game, goodbye Kurt." Blaine walks off angrily.

Kurt almost feels a pang of guilt, almost. The anger and disbelief on Blaine's face saying more than enough. Kurt's purposefully hurting him and it pays off. Blaine gets that he's not allowed to waltz into Kurt's life and take over control. 

That afternoon, Blaine seems to play all his songs in a minor key. The joyfulness he normally brings isn’t to be heard. Kurt is slightly concerned about him, but he knows it’s his doing and thus it's none of his business. 

When Blaine stops playing an hour earlier than normal, Kurt feels a twinge of guilt overtake his body. But he knows he’s doing this for the greater good. For his own sanity. For a better future although it doesn’t feel right at the moment. It will get better, he firmly believes in that. 


	10. The tenth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second update of the day. I hope this will kind of make up for Kurt's behaviour in the last chapter. He's just very very conflicted and cannot(couldn't) let go of his hateful ways just yet. This is also unedited as I should be in bed rn, so yea, bear with me please.

Kurt possibly sleeps even less than he had the day before as the reality of giving Blaine a cold shoulder was even worse than his imagination could make it. His imagination hadn’t included the pain he felt in his chest at hurting Blaine. Even knowing that he’s doing it for the greater good doesn’t help. 

Whenever he closes his eyes, the image of disappointment, confusion and pain on Blaine’s face emerges. He much preferred it when that was a smiling face, that didn’t make him feel as awful as he does now. Ignoring Blaine definitely didn’t work the miracles he thought it would.

He just doesn’t know what to do. He feels miserable this way, but he knows if he allows Blaine to get closer, it’ll end badly as well. He and Blaine have been competing over the same things for so long now and Blaine has always won out, Kurt can’t bear the thought of being in a relationship with someone he has to compete with. He feels like he wouldn’t be able to let go of that. He’s bad at letting go of grudges. 

The entire day at work, he’s not very present. He’s very sleep deprived and acts like a robot. He just hopes that his boss doesn’t notice. He can’t handle her coming for his as well, he has more than enough at just dealing with himself.

When Blaine comes in for his shift, Kurt is disappointed to see that he doesn’t come to talk to him, although not entirely surprised. If he’s completely honest with himself, then he wouldn’t come to see himself either. He wouldn’t have kept trying to get in contact with him as long as Blaine did, he still doesn’t understand Blaine’s motives for that. 

The songs Blaine plays are a bit more joyous than the day before. He changes between major and minor key and seems to sing his heart out. He is definitely giving it more than he did in the days before. Kurt wonders whether that's because of him or because they were mad at Blaine for leaving an hour early the day before. 

Kurt is glad to hear it though, it puts him at ease, gives him a bit of hope even. He feels better just seeing that Blaine is doing better. 

When Blaine thanks his audience for listening and even joining in on the songs, Kurt joins in and claps for him. It happens before he really realises what he’s doing. 

Kurt watches as Blaine rearranges the piano to ensure its safety. He follows his every move with his eyes, catching Blaine’s when he passes the jewelry department. Kurt can feel his cheeks flush at the interaction, maybe there’s still hope for them. 

He doesn’t want to let Blaine closer to him, but on the other hand, he cannot ignore the pull he feels towards him. His mind and his heart just don’t make sense together and he doesn’t know which one to listen to. 

Kurt watches the door to the breakroom for a while, waiting for Blaine to appear again in his own clothing. He’s still surprised when Blaine emerges, even more so when he’s holding a messily wrapped gift in his hand. He seems to be approaching Kurt and Kurt’s heart is close to beating out of his chest. 

“Blaine?” He says as Blaine stands in front of him. 

“Hi?” Blaine says awkwardly. 

“I’m sorry,” Kurt says, but not quick enough, Blaine is speaking to him at the same time. 

“I’m so sorry, Kurt,” Blaine repeats himself. Kurt’s face scrunches up in confusion, he is the one who did something wrong, not Blaine. “I really am sorry, although I don’t know what for.” 

Blaine places the gift on the counter, shoving it in Kurt’s direction. “I hope you can forgive me,” Blaine mutters. His eyes leave the present and focus on Kurt, who’s reluctantly taken the present. He’s playing with the ribbon on it. 

“I know it’s not as neat,” Blaine explains, “I just couldn’t do it without your help.” 

Kurt can’t wrap his head around the situation. Blaine is apologising to him, although he’s not at fault. He’s giving him a gift and asking for his forgiveness. Then he just doesn’t stop talking and it’s driving Kurt crazy. 

“No,” Kurt says decisively, shoving the present back to Blaine. 

“I don’t deserve this present,” he says resolutely. Now Blaine is the one sporting a confused expression. 

“I just- I don’t understand Kurt,” Blaine says softly, trying his hardest to get into contact with Kurt. His hand hovers over Kurt’s, after a second he rests it upon the other boy’s. 

“I am the one who has to apologise,” Kurt tries to clarify. “I’m sorry for treating you like that. I’m sorry for hurting you, I just don’t know what I’m doing, Blaine. I don’t know. Nothing makes sense anymore.” Kurt can feel himself tearing up, but tries as best as he can to swallow the tears down. 

“It’s okay,” Blaine says softly as he rubs his thumb over the back of Kurt’s hand, trying to comfort him a little. 

“It’s not,” Kurt responds and he doesn’t even know what refers to. His feelings? The situation? 

Kurt’s head snaps up and he searches for his boss, really needing a break. Miranda is already approaching them, seemingly ready to scold Kurt for talking to Blaine again. 

“Can I-can I take a break?” Kurt asks, sounding very vulnerable. He can see the doubt on her face, but she dismisses him with a short nod. 

“You go with him and make sure he comes back in one piece,” she instructs Blaine. 

The tears threatening to fall, have done exactly that. So Kurt angrily wipes the tears from his cheeks. 

Blaine waits for Kurt to come from behind the counter, awkwardly holding his present for Kurt. 

Kurt tries to make himself as small as possible. He’s ashamed of breaking down like this in his workplace. He’s ashamed of crying in public. He’s ashamed he’s the one crying when he was the one who hurt Blaine. He’s ashamed. 

Blaine carefully places his hand on Kurt’s back, leading him to the breakroom. Kurt’s unsure whether he does so because Miranda instructed him to or because he really wants to. 

“You’re too kind,” Kurt says as he drops himself in one of the chairs. 

“I’ve heard that before,” Blaine chuckles awkwardly. “And yes, also regarding you.”

“I’m sorry,” Kurt says again, because he doesn’t know what else to tell Blaine. His head too much all over the place to really explain what went down. The frustration at not being able to express himself only makes him cry more. 

Blaine sits down opposite him, placing the present on the table again and pushing it in Kurt’s direction.

“Hands in the air,” he instructs as he sees Kurt struggling to breathe because of how loudly he’s crying. Kurt doesn’t comply, so Blaine walks over to him to grasp his arms and raise them. “Slow deep breaths.” 

Blaine inhales and exhales with him and it calms him down. “C-can you sing f-for me?” Kurt asks as he looks behind him. 

Blaine quietly starts to sing, it’s a song Kurt doesn’t recognise, but it is very soothing. He concentrates on the song to get his breathing under control and it works, even better than he would’ve thought. 

Blaine gets Kurt a cup of water to drink as he calms down and sits down opposite him again. 

“Please open this now,” Blaine says, pushing the present the tiniest bit closer to Kurt. Kurt shakes his head, but when Blaine gives it another push, he does reluctantly take the soft ribbon between his fingers. He pulls on it and looks at the bow falling apart. He carefully opens the present, revealing a gingerbread cookie holding an I’m sorry sign. 

“I’m sorry,” Blaine says again. 

“Don’t,” Kurt replies, shoving the cookie in Blaine’s direction. 

“No, let me speak,” Blaine says. Kurt looks at him, disbelief bubbling up in him. 

“I don’t know what happened for you to act like you did yesterday. But I did some thinking and it made me realise that the way I acted before wasn’t okay either. I shouldn’t have pushed you so often. It wasn’t okay for me to bring a mistletoe to your workplace. It wasn’t okay for me to constantly ask you to go out with me. I should’ve stopped after you told me no once and I didn’t. I was so blinded by hope that I continued to ask you out. My friends even encouraged me to do so. It took yesterday for me to realise that I harassed you and for that I’m sorry. I can’t ignore my feelings for you, but I could’ve respected your wishes. I’m sorry and I hope you can forgive me.” 

Kurt doesn’t know how to reply to that, it’s a lot to take in. This is what he always wished for but it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel as relieving as he always thought it would. 

“Ask me again,” Kurt says resolutely. 

“What?” Blaine’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, “Can you forgive me?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. Ask me again,” Kurt repeats himself. 

“Do you? Do you want me to ask you out again?” Blaine asks reluctantly. 

Kurt takes in a sharp breath and nods. 

“This is the last time I’m asking you though,” Blaine warns him. “So, do you want to go on a date?” 

“Yes,” Kurt says in a breath of air, making his response barely audible. “Yes, I want to go on a date with you.” 

Kurt doesn’t really know what possessed him to have Blaine repeat the question, but it feels right. He feels lighter, it’s a big relief to say yes to Blaine. 

Blaine is still a bit confused, “Does that mean you forgive me?”

“Yes, I forgive you. And I’m sorry too,” he adds. “I want to explain to you what happened, but I can’t. Not yet,” Kurt says, looking Blaine in the eye. 

“It’s okay,” Blaine tells him, a cautious smile on his lips.

“It’s not okay,” Kurt says, “but I’ll work on an explanation. I promise you I will explain what happened once I can make sense of it myself.” 

“I’ll keep you to that.” 

“How much time has passed?” Kurt asks, he completely forgot to look at the clock when he left his station. 

“Enough time to split the cookie,” Blaine assures him. Kurt takes the cookie and breaks it in half, handing the larger part to Blaine. 


	11. The eleventh day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its currently past midnight for me. This chapter was a bitch to write and it certainly didn't help I had to write like 95% of it on my phone. It's a bit of a fillet I'm afraid. But hey, we do need some stocking fillers as well ;) If you've been enjoying the story so far, please leave some love. I'd love to hear your thoughts or maybe even wishes. Cheers and see you soon with the next update!

When Kurt returned home after work, Santana commented on how happy he seemed, unlike the day before. 

Kurt explained what had happened to her and they spent the afternoon trying to make sense of his actions. Santana tried to get out of him why he didn't like Blaine, but Kurt couldn't explain it other than that he just didn't like him. Santana called bullshit, so he said he felt like Blaine and him would always be competing with each other, but that wasn't good enough for her either. 

It frustrated Kurt to no end that he couldn't pick his brain and that Santana couldn't either. 

They didn't really talk feelings all that often as neither particularly liked being vulnerable. They were more of a teasing each other mercilessly kind of friends. So it was to be expected that nothing would really come out of it. 

Santana was useful for calling out bullshit though. Deep in his heart Kurt knew this was something he had to figure out himself and that no one could really help him with it unless he allowed himself to be completely honest. As long as he hid behind the competitive element, it was hard to overcome. Because he knows that's what he does, he's hiding. Hiding and blaming someone else is easier than being truthful. 

He had a good night of sleep, feeling more peaceful now that he's giving Blaine a chance. He knows there's still a lot to work on and he doesn't know whether he can trust Blaine or even himself not to fuck this up, but he's willing to try. 

He doesn't know where the sudden change comes from. How he suddenly went from hating Blaine to liking him, but maybe not everything has to be rationalised. 

His day at work is miles better, he smiles at all his customers, helps them with their purchases and sends them off with a smile. 

He texted Blaine he'd bring him coffee, so that's ready and waiting for him next to his own cup he emptied hours before when it was still warm. He cannot wait for Blaine to come in and stop by. He's finally allowing himself to be happy with where he is. 

"Hi," Blaine smiles at him as he arrives, 30 minutes early. 

Kurt wants to talk with him, entertain him, get to know him, but after what happened the day before, he shouldn't test the waters with his boss. 

"Hi," Kurt smiles back, quickly reaching for the thermos. "Here you go." 

"Thank you," Blaine says, smiling even wider as their fingers graze during the exchange of the thermos. 

"I'd love to talk to you," Kurt says, looking around to see where his boss is, "but I kind of owe Miranda a day of good behaviour after yesterday. In my book talking to you isn't bad, but I'm not sure whether she'd agree," Kurt chuckles. 

Blaine joins in with him, touches his hand lying on the counter and agrees with him. Then they part ways, albeit a bit reluctantly as neither wants to leave the other. 

**12.34 Kurt**   
I wish we could text, but I don't think that works when you play :(

**12.34 Blaine**  
If only I had a third arm

Kurt laughs at Blaine's text and feels a flutter in his stomach although it doesn't make sense. He tells himself to stop trying to make sense of things that aren't important anyway. He likes Blaine, that's all he needs to know for now. 

**12.35 Kurt**  
Where would it be tho? 

**12.35 Blaine**  
Hmm, good question. Left? Right? Up? Down?

**12.36 Kurt**  
Imagine it being on your back, that’d be very unfortunate

**12.37 Blaine**  
Yes, maybe I’m good with just two arms

**12.38 Kurt**  
I think you’re perfect with two arms

Kurt blushes as he hits send on his message. He can do flirting over texts. He can hear the tell-tale clicking of the heels of his boss, so he quickly makes his phone scarce. 

"You better not be fickling around with Anderson again," Miranda warns him as she passes his station. 

Kurt's forehead creases in disbelief at what she just told him, but decides not to give her too much attention. She just seems to be having a bad day, but Kurt's not gonna let her rain on his parade.

He enjoys hearing Blaine play, although he's still not big on Christmas music. His voice is very warm and soothing, it's something Kurt wouldn't mind falling asleep to.

Before playing his last song, Blaine twists on the piano stool and looks at Kurt. "This one is for a special someone."

He starts playing Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas. A blush rises on Kurt's cheeks, but he ignores it and silently hums along.

**15.04 Blaine**   
Did you like my song?

Kurt can feel his phone vibrate in his back pocket, but a client just arrived so he handles them first. He tries not to rush them, but he can’t help it with the message burning in his back pocket. He’s pretty sure it’s Blaine and he doesn’t want to keep them waiting. 

**15.12 Kurt**  
Still not really into Christmas songs, but it was cute. I’ll give you that

**15.13 Kurt**  
Sorry I didn’t reply earlier, a customer came in

**15.13 Blaine**  
I can work with that, I’d try better but they don’t allow me

**15.14 Kurt**  
You’ve told me like a million times ;)

**15.14 Blaine**  
You’re okay, I peeked outside and I could see that

**15.15 Blaine**  
Oh stop it with the sass, I might just up and leave

**15.16 Kurt**  
I didn't even know there was a chance you were staying 

**15.16 Blaine**  
Well now you know

**15.17 Kurt**  
I do, to what so I owe the honours? 

**15.18 Blaine**  
I believe we have a date to discuss

**15.19 Kurt**  
Maybe we do, I'll see you in 40 minutes

Kurt decides to work his charms for the remainder of his shift, trying to help his customers as best as possible.

Once he gets off, he meets Blaine in the breakroom. They go over the details of their date, deciding on doing it the next day, since they're both free. Kurt wants to plan it all out, but Blaine refuses, saying he gets the honour of planning their first date and surprising Kurt with it. Kurt is reluctant, but agrees.

When Kurt gets home all excited and jittery about his date, the teasing starts. He is at the mercy of Santana, who enjoys the teasing evenmore due to Kurt's sudden 1-80, which really isn't one in Santana's eyes.

Kurt just lets her do her thing, knowing there's no malice behind it. He might even enjoy it a little bit. He somehow feels like it'll prepare him for the next day.

He gets into bed extra early as he can't wait for the next day to start. Before he falls asleep he sends Blaine a text with a goodnight wish and a little x to close it.


	12. The twelfth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for just disappearing for 2 days. I really had to study for my exam, which I sat today. Thought about not updating today either since I'm quite sad, it has just been announced we're going in full lockdown from midnight onwards and a member of my favourite group just announced they left, so yea. Instead, I am here updating because it is a distraction.

The previous day Blaine had texted him an unfamiliar address, telling him to meet him there. 

Kurt had curiously looked up the address although it would ruin the surprise. He just wouldn't tell Blaine and get his money's worth for that musical theatre degree he possesses after all.

Turns out the address didn't lead to anything. It was quite literally from a rundown shop that had closed a couple for years prior. Kurt was a little disappointed but on the other hand, the cleverness of the action was a real turn on.

He had kept himself from browsing the neighbourhood, Blaine clearly wanted to surprise him if he'd let him. This was almost a trust exercise on both ends and Kurt was willing to commit to it.

So that's how he finds himself waiting for Blaine in front of a rundown shop, which looks a little eerily in the twilight. 

Since Blaine only lived a stop away from Blaine, they could've travelled together, but since he didn't offer, Kurt thought something else was going on.

He's right. Blaine comes walking down the street from the opposite direction of the train station Kurt had arrived at. 

"Hi," Blaine smiles warmly as he notices Kurt. Kurt nods in reply, lips too cold to move in an instance. 

Blaine approaches him for a hug and Kurt happily complies, rubbing his cold nose softly against Blaine's cheek, which is surprisingly warm. 

"Should I have told you to dress for the weather?" Blaine asks as he pulls away with a shiver, clearly noticing Kurt's cold. 

Kurt shakes his head and starts rubbing his lips together to warm them up slightly. 

"You're cold though, we should get it going," Blaine pats Kurt on the back for them to start walking in the right direction. 

"I was a little early," Kurt starts his explanation, "I was just so excited and nervous that I couldn't sit at home anymore."

"Oh," is all Blaine says. He looks over at Kurt, taking him up. "You look amazing by the way."

"Thank you," Kurt mutters as a blush rises on his cheeks. He's not sure how that's even possible because they must be red from the cold already. 

This was the first time after college that Blaine sees him in his own clothes again and not his uniform. It hasn't been that long, he has to admit, but he still wanted to make sure he looks fabulous. After Blaine's compliment, he's certain he has.

He put on a fairly simple outfit, just black jeans with a dashing red blouse and a creme half jumper on top. Although the top half of his outfit is hidden by his charcoal wool trench coat and a complimentary black and red scarf. 

Kurt tries to take a peek at Blaine’s outfit, judging whether he can return the favour or not. Blaine has been coming in in his usual clothing, so Kurt is not very surprised when he recognises Blaine’s trousers. The trousers do fit him really well though, so nothing to blame there. Kurt decides to wait until Blaine takes off his coat to comment on his outfit. It would just be a bit awkward to share that now after the moment of silence they’ve had. 

“So where are you taking me?” Kurt asks Blaine impatiently. 

“You don’t have patience, do you?” Blaine smirks back. 

“I do, but I don’t like surprises,” Kurt discloses. 

Blaine just shrugs in response, not telling him anything. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“How much longer?” Kurt almost whines, he’s actually ashamed of how much he sounds like a child. 

“A couple of blocks. How was your day yesterday?” Blaine changes the subject. They launch into a conversation about what they did the day before after they came home from work. 

Suddenly, Blaine grasps Kurt’s arm, “close your eyes!” 

Kurt scrunches up his eyebrows but does as Blaine asks him too, covering his eyes with his gloved hands. 

“Okay, listen carefully,” Blaine tells him. If he listens carefully, he can hear a choir singing Christmas carols, but that’s probably not what Blaine means. Soon enough, Blaine places his hands on Kurt’s shoulders and instructs him to move. They walk a couple of hundred meters until they reach their destination. 

Before opening his eyes, Kurt takes in a deep breath of air, trying to find out whether a good sniff will tell him anything about his surroundings. He can still hear the carolling and it smells an awful lot like Christmas trees. 

“You didn’t bring me to a Christmas market, did you?” Kurt asks, he can’t see Blaine’s glistening eyes. 

“Open your eyes,” Blaine says and Kurt follows his orders again. He has to blink a couple of times for his eyes to adjust, but Blaine did bring him to a Christmas market. 

“Why?” Kurt asks, “I told you I hate Christmas.”

“And I love it, so I’m gonna show you some true Christmas joy,” Blaine says as he links his arm through Kurt’s. They enter the small market and look at all the stalls. Blaine buys Kurt a candy apple when he’s staring at one for too long. They also have some vintage looking items, which Kurt appreciates. They walk around for a bit taking in all the things. 

“What’s the verdict?” Blaine asks Kurt as they leave. 

“Of what? The market or the date?” Kurt grins at him.

“The market, silly. We’re not done yet!”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Kurt shrugs, bumping his shoulder with Blaine’s. “You definitely know me better than I thought you would. You thought you were clever picking a market with some vintage elements to it,” Kurt teases him. 

“I did, but was I wrong?” 

Kurt sinks a little deeper into his jacket and begrudgingly agrees that Blaine was right. 

“I hope you’re hungry,” Blaine says as he looks at his phone to check the time. He makes them pick up their pace a little as he notices that they’re late. He takes them to a little Italian restaurant in the area. They share a pizza after the waitress tells them that it is customary in their restaurant. They have American-sized servings but with European eaters in mind. The couple have trouble finishing their pizza, especially when Blaine reveals they’ll be going on a walk after this. 

“I don’t think I can walk,” Kurt says the moment he sets foot out of the restaurant. 

“Well, then you’re lucky because we need to take the train first,” Blaine smiles at him. He’s taken his phone out to direct them to the nearest station. 

“Is there anything after the walk?” Kurt asks innocently. 

“I’m not telling you,” Blaine says in a teasing manner, but quickly follows it up with a no. “You’ll be a free man after that,” he winks. 

“Maybe I don’t want to be,” Kurt says, although he knows the date has taken up a lot of their time already. 

“Well, then you’re welcome to ask me out for another date,” Blaine replies, walking sideways to look at Kurt’s face. 

“I’ll think about it,” Kurt winks back at him. 

“Ouch, that’s mean,” Blaine pouts, stuffing his hands in his pockets. 

“I never said I wouldn’t,” Kurt tries to lighten the mood. 

Blaine looks at his feet as he almost trips, so he walks straight again. He tries to steal some glances at Kurt, who is doing the same. 

Kurt feels his hand burning in his pocket, just aching to hold Blaine’s. However, Blaine’s hands are stuffed in his pockets just like his own and they’re nowhere near the level of pulling hands out of pockets to hold them yet. The mental image is stuck in Kurt’s head now. 

Soon, they get to the station and they wait for their train to arrive. Blaine is very relaxed now, meaning they’re actually going for a walk which isn’t reliable on a certain time. 

“I just wanted to look at the Christmas lights,” Blaine admits with a blush as he tells them where they’ll be getting of the train. 

“That’s kind of cute though,” Kurt says in return, totally enamoured by the other boy. 

“I’m glad you think so,” Blaine looks at Kurt with a besotted smile on his face. “I still hope it’ll get you into the Christmas spirit, though,” he says breaking the mood of the little moment they just had. 

“I’m not sure if I ever will,” Kurt admits. “My mum always used to love Christmas and seeing how much my dad hurt around this time of the year just broke my heart. He tried to act all cheerful for me, but I could tell it was fake, even as a little boy. So I didn’t like Christmas anymore. I don’t want my dad to hurt, not if I can help it. And for him to be the way he is, instead of being extra cheerful was a lot better.”

Blaine swallows a couple of times before he replies to what Kurt just said. “That’s sweet, yet very sad.”

“I’ve grown used to it. Christmas is a time of sadness for me, rather than joyfulness all other people seem to associate it with,” Kurt shrugs again. He hardly thought about it, it was easier to pretend to be a scrooge than to explain why. Only his dearest friends, Santana and Mercedes, knew about the reasons behind it. And now Blaine did too. 

“Is it really insensitive of me to push this on you?” Blaine asks earnestly. 

“You didn’t know,” Kurt says, “and honestly, I don’t really hate it, I just don’t really have fond memories of it I guess.”

“Maybe that can change?” Blaine asks as he pulls Kurt out of his seat, 

“Maybe,” Kurt smiles at him as they step out of the train. 

Between the bustle of New Yorkers, they make their way to the street Blaine had chosen to start their walk. They walk on and on, arms linked together for warmth. Kurt finds joy in watching Blaine’s face light up at yet another work of art made entirely out of Christmas lights. 

Maybe the walk isn’t half as bad. Maybe Christmas isn’t half as bad as he likes to believe. Maybe, just maybe, things can change. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a longer chapter, but it still feels a bit rushed to me and I'm sorry for that. Hope I can do better for the next chapter, which I'm not sure about when it will be appearing on here.


	13. The thirteenth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm back! All exams are done, all essays are written, so I'm going to do my best to catch up, so I'll probably be updating multiple times in the coming days so I can end it all on Christmas eve! Oh and if you have present ideas for what the boys could give one another let me know, cause I'm still deliberating. Anyway, enjoy the update :)
> 
> Trigger warning: discussion of death

“Kurt, Kurt,” Brittany excitedly squeals into his ear, “Kurt, you have to tell me everything!” 

Kurt groans, he’s just woken up and isn’t ready for conversation just yet. He’d wanted to talk to his girls the day before when he came home just past 10, but they were already in bed, doing god knows what. 

He’s getting used to Brittany waking him up every Sunday morning. Although he would like to sleep longer, waking up among friends isn’t so bad either. 

Santana ceremoniously drapes herself across his bed, “yea, tell up Hummel.”

“What do you wanna know?” Kurt asks innocently. 

“Did you kiss?” Brittany immediately pipes in. 

“Britt,” Santana hisses, but she’s actually curious about it herself and Kurt knows it. 

“We didn’t,” Kurt says and takes her outstretched and intertwines their fingers. 

“He wanted to though,” Santana smirks at him. Kurt blushes and decides to ignore the comment. 

“So, what else?” 

“Where did he take you? You were so nervous yesterday and what for?” Santana says, sounding a bit judgemental. 

“Please, I can remember just how nervous you were on your first date with Britt,” Kurt says to school her. 

“I think it’s normal,” Brittany retorts, steering away from conflict. 

“Thanks, Britt,” Santana says, smiling at her other half. Brittany reaches out to Santana and takes her hand as well. “Anyway, you planning on hitting that ass or what?” 

If Kurt had had water in his mouth, he would’ve spat it out. His cheeks tinge red sooner rather than later, “Uhm, I don’t know?”

Santana laughs at his answer, “oh, just admit it already Hummel. We all know you wanna tap that ass, have wanted to for ages.”

“For all I know I hated him 2 weeks ago,” Kurt just shrugs. Santana chuckles again. 

“If that’s what makes you sleep at night,” she shrugs in response. 

“But tells us about it, Kurt,” Brittany says, smiling lovingly at him. She just seems to love stories. 

“It was lovely. He took me to a Christmas market,” Santana snorts at that, so Kurt slaps her on the wrist. “It was one with antiques and vintage things on it. Then he took me to an Italian place where we shared the largest pizza I’ve ever seen and finally he took me to see the Christmas lights,” Kurt smiled at the thought of it. 

“That’s an awful lot of Christmas things for someone who isn’t very fond of Christmas,” Santana remarks. 

Kurt just shrugs. “Did you still enjoy yourself despite all the Christmas stuff?” Brittany asks, she squeezes his hand and looks at him with sincerity. 

“I did,” Kurt swallows, “I talked about it with him and I think he understood. He felt sorry for forcing it on me, but it’s okay.”

“Don’t get used to me saying this, but I’m proud of you,” Santana says sentimentally, patting Kurt’s leg on the blankets. 

Kurt smiles at her and thanks her, so does Brittany, muttering that it’s very sweet of Santana to say. 

“Are you sure you don’t want any Christmas decorations around here?” Brittany asks Kurt. “I could easily just take everything I put in my room up here,” she smiles at him.

“I’m good,” Kurt smiles at her, glad that she’s being thoughtful about it. “Let’s get started today,” he throws the blankets off of him and waits for the girls to leave his bad as well. 

“Will you make us waffles?” Brittany bats her eyes at him. 

“Only because it’s the last day you’re here,” Kurt says. He still isn’t sure how to feel about not going home himself. Instead, he’ll be on his own after Santana and Brittany leave to go back to Ohio later that day. He might be lonely, but then again, he doesn’t have very fond memories of Christmas at home. Even when his dad remarried, the weight of Christmas still brought him down. Matters got worse after they lost his stepbrother, Finn wasn’t even that fond of Christmas, but missing yet another member of the family ached particularly around this time of the year. They had their own days when they came together though, just the three of them. They had gotten themselves new traditions, which were about celebrating their own little family, rather than conventional tainted ones. 

So Kurt gets up and bakes waffles for him and the girls while Brittany is next to him chopping some fresh fruit. Santana just sits on the counter being pretty and talking their ears off. Kurt really enjoyed it and in that moment he’s certain he’ll miss them when they’re not there. 

In the afternoon, they move to Santana’s room, Kurt sitting on the bed, ready to fold all the clothes thrown at him. Brittany has a somewhat questionable taste at times, but Kurt has given up on commenting on it. He just folds what’s given to him. Santana on the other hand, has more of a taste up Kurt’s ally, although he still doesn’t understand how she dresses so scarcely during New York winters. 

“So what did you do?” Kurt asks curiously, not sure whether he wants to know what they were up to. 

“A lot of naughty things,” Santana cheekily smiles at him. 

“You better changed those sheets afterwards,” Kurt comments, looking around himself. 

“We-” Brittany starts, but Santana interrupts, “Of course.”

“Bullshit, Lopez,” Kurt says dramatically as he stands up from his seat on the bed. He retrieves a new pair of sheets from the closet and forces the girls to take of the old bedding. 

“I’ll be nice and do the washing, no worries.” 

Kurt sits down on the fresh sheets, “gosh, you’re really not far off from a couple of pigs.” He makes a disgusted face. 

“Whatever,” Santana shrugs and drops down on top of her suitcase to fit everything in it. Brittany helps her zip it up and then drops onto her own suitcase and waits for Santana to do the same for her. 

Brittany walks towards the bedside table and takes something out of it, Kurt is a bit reluctant to take it from her as she hands it to him. “We got you something,” she says with a sweet smile on her face. 

“That’s so sweet, you guys didn’t have to,” Kurt says, swallowing down the lump in his throat. 

He carefully unwraps the package, it reveals a bowtie and he’s not sure what to think about it, so he looks up to Santana, thinking it’s a joke regarding Blaine, but she holds up her hands and looks at Brittany. 

“Do you like it?” She asks with a hopeful smile. 

Kurt caresses it with his finger, it’s a nice dark red velvet number and yes, he decides, he likes it, “I do.” He steps towards both girls and hugs them. 

“I’m gonna miss you,” he confesses. 

“You might be an annoying brat sometimes, but I’ll miss you too,” Santana says, keeping Kurt at an arm's length. 

“Me too,” Brittany agrees, going in for another hug. 


	14. The fourteenth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yea I said I was back, turns out I wasn't. This chapter was a bitch to write, I got stuck on it so yea, therefore, it's later than I would've liked. Planning an entire story in advance isn't as smart as I thought it was when I still take liberties whilst writing... anyway enjoy

His first morning alone is a gift that keeps on giving. Kurt can sing in the shower as loudly as he wants to, no Santana there to barge in and get mad at him. He also enjoys the peace and quiet he has during his breakfast, the loneliness hasn’t settled in yet.

He texts Blaine that he will get them coffee again, asking him whether he’d like coffee or tea. When Blaine texts back that he’d like some ginger tea, Kurt decides to make his own recipe at home before he goes.

Knowing he gets to see Blaine again makes him feel so much better, it motivates him to be the best version of himself, so he is.

His boss compliments him on his jolliness. He wants to admit it's Blaine's doing, but she rushes off elsewhere before he can. The Christmas rush is really settling in. Kurt's lucky he still gets like 5 minutes in between customers, soon it'll be none and in the last 2-3 days it'll be terrible. He'll have to rush as to not have people waiting for too long. He's never liked it and much less so the fake joy that comes with it. It's exhausting. 

Kurt doesn't like to fake it, but luckily he's good at it. He puts his musical theatre degree to good use, faking a smile every day. He actually finds it's easier to make up a role for himself sometimes. Especially on bad days. Blaine's appearance has made it infinitely harder to turn off his own feelings though.

Once Blaine arrives, he’s very happy to see him. He never would’ve guessed his life would turn out like that, but he’s glad it did. 

“Hi beautiful,” Blaine flirts with him when he gets to the counter. 

“Hi yourself,” Kurt replies, retrieving his thermos for Blaine. “I hope you like it, I made it myself,” he smiles shyly.

“I’m sure I will,” Blaine smiles back at him. “When is your break?” 

“I’m not sure, whenever Miranda has time for me to take it?” Kurt replies, he keeps looking around for both clients and his boss. “Why are you asking?”

“Will you sing with me?” Blaine asks innocently.

“No,” Kurt immediately replies. 

“But you’re a wonderful singer?” Blaine retorts. He looks as if Kurt hung the moon, but it isn’t convincing Kurt. 

“I might be, but I’m not singing Christmas songs. I don’t think I even know any,” Kurt defends his choice. 

“It’s impossible you don’t know any, they’re played 24/7 here,” Blaine tells him, but in a sweet way, he isn’t judging Kurt in any way. 

“I choose not to listen to it, I can shut it out from singing in choir,” Kurt explains him. 

“Are you telling me you shut out my songs?” 

“I can’t shut you out,” Kurt says tracing his fingers over the counter, inching closer to Blaine’s. He shortly looks at Blaine, inching his fingers just a little closer, barely touching. 

“I’m glad to hear,” Blaine smiles at him, “I’d love to sing with you though, I bet we’d sound awesome together.” 

“Maybe I’ll indulge on that in the future, maybe we can practice a song and then I’ll go up with you there,” Kurt brushes his finger over Blaine’s and then retrieves altogether. 

“I’d love that,” Blaine’s smile gets almost impossibly bigger. 

“Will you come to watch me though?” Blaine bats his eyes at him. Kurt nods.

“I will, now get out of here, that woman is side-eyeing us and I’m not sure I want to know why.”

“Sure,” Blaine says as he looks over his shoulder. 

As soon as Blaine leaves, the woman approaches. “You and your boyfriend looked awfully cute, I didn’t want to interrupt,” she says sweetly. 

“Oh no, it’s not,” Kurt replies to her, feeling the blush rise on his cheeks again. 

“But you hope he will be?” She says and Kurt isn’t sure how to reply to that. 

“So, erm, how can I help you?” Kurt asks her instead. 

“I want to buy my son and his boyfriend matching cufflinks,” she tells him and the idea really touches Kurt. He feels like it would’ve been something his mum could’ve done. 

Kurt helps her pick out the cufflinks. In the end, she buys two different sets which match. They split the pairs up, put them in boxes and wrap them. 

Just after the woman leaves, Miranda comes in to take over from Kurt. Kurt quickly eats his lunch and joins the crowd formed around the piano for the remainder of his break.

Miranda just waves him over at the end of his break and he reluctantly leaves, although he’s glad he can still watch Blaine from his station. So he continues to do so, unless he’s helping a customer of course. 

When he gets off an hour and a half after Blaine’s shift ended, Blaine is waiting outside in the snow for him. It had just started snowing for the first time of the season, so New York was covered in a dusting of white. 

They walk around the block with the coffee Blaine had gotten for them, just chatting about what they did during the weekend. So Kurt tells Blaine about being alone for the next week and a half and they agree that Blaine will be coming over some time during the week to keep him company. And Kurt’s looking forward to it.


	15. The fifteenth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect to write an entire chapter on my phone after midnight, but here we are.
> 
> Trigger warning : burns / wounds

The snow had pushed through throughout the night, making it even colder. It’s also made for some difficulties getting to his work, but he manages to be on time still. 

Since Blaine isn't essential to the store, they'd told him not to come in. He'd be welcome again the next day once the city was accustomed to the snow. It seemed that every year again the first snowfall caused problems but once they had it the city would be rolling like it always did 24 hours later. 

Kurt is very disappointed when it comes to his attention that Blaine won't be there. He'll miss hearing his melodious voice accompanied by joyful rhythms from the piano. 

Throughout the day Kurt sulked a little, although the customers probably couldn't tell. He had his 1000 Watt smiles plastered right onto his face.

He is glad once his shift ends, aching to just get home and revel in his sulking. He could throw a good pityparty if he wanted to.

He waits out in the cold, a warm scarf winded on his neck, leather mittens keeping his hands warm and a bougie pair of muffs covering his ears. 

During his wait, he's thinking about how to spend the rest of his afternoon, the loneliness gripping him right in the stomach. He's getting twisted.

He rummages through the cabinets to find all the ingredients for some baking. He also runs into a bottle of red wine and decides to heat it up and ad some spices for a mulled wine while he waits for the butter to get to room temperature. 

He neatly measures all ingredients for sugar cookies as he waits and waits. He stirs the wine and prepares the oven and the countertop for rolling out the dough.

Kurt is hands deep into kneading the butter when the bell rings. He thinks about just ignoring whoever's in front of his door as he eats a piece of slightly formed dough. He gets the towel from he shoulder and wipes his hands clean to the best of his ability before rushing to open up.

"Yes?" Kurt says into the receiver.

"Can you open up please?" A familiar thinny voice sounds from the other side.

"Blaine?" There's suprise laced through his voice.

A giggle followed by: "the one and only," lets him know he's right.

"It's cold, can I come in?" It sounds again with an added shiver.

"Oh, yes, sure," Kurt says as he buzzes him in.

Kurt opens the door with his buttery fingers and waits for Blaine to arrive.

Blaine hugs him as soon as he sees Kurt. Kurt squeals, "I've got butter on my hands."

Blaine laughs at the silly situation and follows Kurt into the kitchen.

"What are you baking?" Blaine approaches the dtove and takes the liberty to stir the mulled wine.

"Just sugar cookies," Kurt explains, washing the remnants of butter from his fingers. Once he shuts off the water, he dries his hands and asks Blaine why he's there.

"I wanted to see you," Blaine shrugs. It's only in that moment he sees Blaine didn't come alone, he'd been carrying a bag in with him.

"Did you miss me that much?" Kurt muses nudging Blaine's shoulder as they're still standing next to one another. Blaine is stirring the wine as Kurt continues on the cookies.

"I just wanted to check if you're alright," Blaine says noncomitticaly.

"Why's that?" Kurt stops kneading as he focuses his attention on Blaine.

"You're home alone, Christmas is coming and all that you know," Blaine shrugs, he gives the wine another stir, holding up the spatula and catching a droplet of hot wine in the palm of his hand.He hisses as the contact, but still brings his hand to his mouth and licks the drop off. 

"I'm fine," Kurt says, getting interrupted by the oven signaling it's gotten to the right temperature. 

"You're not.. lonely? I know I would be," Blaine tries his hardest to get Kurt to be honest with him.

"Maybe a little," Kurt admits, he turns his back towards Blaine, pretending he's too busy placing cookies on the baking tray.

"It's okay to admit to feeling lonely, Kurt," Blaine says sincerely.

"But I told them I wouldn't be," Kurt has turned towards Blaine again.

"You're only human," Blaine lets go of the spatula and places a comforting hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I brought a movie with, do you wanna watch while we wait for those to bake?"

"They only take 10 minutes," Kurt shrugs. He's certain Blaine brought a Christmas movie and he's not in the mood for an oh so gleeful story with a happy ending.

Blaine digs into the bag and holds up a DVD, "I brought Frozen," he presentsit proudly.

A small smile appears on Kurt's face when he sees he's wrong. He wants to reply, but then notices the mulled wine is boiling, bubbling up more than it should be

"No, no, no," Kurt says. He quickly pushes Blaine aside to get the pot of the stove. He isnt careful enough and splaces some of the boiling liquid right over his hand.

"Fuck, aah," he curses. 

Blaine immediately turns on the faucet, gets the water to just below lukewarm and urges Kurt to put his hand under. 

Kurt has tears in his eyes from the pain and he doesn't want to let them fall. He had already embarrassed himself once crying in front of Blaime, he didn't need to do that again.

"Hey, it's okay," Blaine whispers in his ear as he wraps his arms around Kurt from behind to craddle the slightly taller ma against his chest. 

Kurt feels safe there in Blaine's arms, in his own little nest.

They stand there together for minutes, the time ticking away on the clock behind them. It's Blaine who breaks the silence, "how long dod those cookies need after all?"

"What's the time?" Kurt asks instead of answering. 

"It's 5," Blaine replies.

"Fuck," Kurt mutters. He wants to take hishand from under the streaming water to get them out, but Blaine is quicker. 

He doesn't like the loss of shared body warmth he immediately feels. 

"Are they burnt?" Kurt asks, trying to crane his neck to be able to see them.

"Only slightly," Blaine replies. He presents some rather brown cookies to Kurt, but it's definitely not the worst thing his oven has seen. Brittany and Samtana once forgot about a pizza they'd been heating up, it was so bad that the smoke alarm went off at 2 AM waking them all from their sleep.

"How's your hand feel?" Blaine asks, eyes very concerned.

Kurt takes his hand from under the water and examines it. It doesn't look too bad, the skin is just an angry red, no blisters in sight yet.

"Do you have a first aid kid?" Blaine asks, then adds, "I got my first aid diploma in high school."

"You did?" Kurt is surprised to hear that.

"Yea, so where is it?" He presses.

"There should be some cooling salve and gauze in the cabinet behind the mirror in the bathroom," Kurt explains, pointing to the door that leads to the bathroom with his good hand. He sticks the injured one back under the water, wanting to feel the relief of the coolness.

Blaine turns off the faucet and positions Kurt on the kitchen table. He flicks on the big overhead light to be able to see Kurt's injury properly. He applies some of the salve for burns, uses a special burn patch and wraps Kurt's hand in gauze. Once he's done he places a gentle kiss on Kurt's wrapped hand.

"Let me check that again before I leave, okay?" Kurt nods, unsure what to do with himself.

"What about cookies for dinner?" Blaine asks with a smirk. Normally Kurt wouldn't ruin his diet like that, but he feels like he deserves it, so he nods again.

"Okay, so plan is for you to get comfortable om the couch while I plate these babies andget us some mulled wine, alright?" Once again Kurt nods, he makes his way to the couch and carefully plops down, making sure not to bump his hand.

He can hear Blaine rummaging through his cabinets, whistling to himself. He comes to the living room carryimg two plates mounted with cookies in one hand amd two mugs in the other. Kurt takes a plate from him and motions to put the rest on the table, so that's what Blaine does.

Kurt agrees to watch Frozen after he admits that he's never seen it. The two sit awfully close and share a blanket for most of the night as they munch cookies and Blaine sings along to the majority of the songs. 

It feels nice, it's definitely something Kurt could get used to, minus the injured hand.

Once the credits roll over the screen, Blaine notes that Kurt doesn't have a Christmas tree. He's a little outraged but decides not to make it a big thing, although he will definitely do something about it, but he doesn't tell Kurt.

Blaine unwraps the gauze to examine Kurt's burn and applies some more salve. 

He tells Kurt he'll be back the coming week to watch the second Frozen movie with him if he wants to. Kurt replies in affirmative.

He had been very mellow all night, it's only when he's in bed that he can process what happened that afternoon, but he isn't mad about it. He actually rather enjoyed himself.


	16. The sixteenth day of Christmas

Kurt wakes up to a concerned good morning message from Blaine, who wants to know how he is and whether his hand is good enough to go to work. 

Kurt updates him, he has gotten a few blisters throughout the night. He decides not to wrap them in case the blister pops and the skin gets stuck to the gauze. It doesn’t look very good, but worse things have happened. 

He takes a few painkillers in hope of reducing the pain and goes to work. At work, he cautions Miranda about his injury, telling her he might be a little slower today. She scolds him for even coming in, but doesn’t send him home either. He just hopes the customers won’t point it out over and over again. 

Miranda pops in as often as she can to help him out, gift wrapping especially turns out to be a nasty job as it puts a strain on some of the blisters. 

Blaine checks in with him as well and Miranda lets him, she can immediately notice that Blaine’s doting puts Kurt at each. Blaine also lightly teases Kurt about not having a Christmas tree, when Miranda isn’t there. 

Blaine is torn between teasing him and knowing why Kurt isn’t into Christmas and thus not mentioning it. He explains to Kurt that Christmas is his ultimate favourite holiday and that it’s kind of hard for him not to spread his love for it. Kurt says it’s okay and that he doesn’t mind the teasing. 

The piano works miracles and makes him like Christmas songs more and more, or maybe it’s just Blaine’s nice and warm vocals that make him like Christmas songs. Most likely it’s the latter, but he’s not shotting down the first option. 

After his performance, Blaine shows up again, kind of testing Miranda as they had talked for about 15 minutes before already. Some miracle happened and there were no customers for that amount of time. 

Blaine patiently waits for Kurt to finish his conversation with an elderly gentleman before approaching him. Kurt has already seen him from the corner of his eye and tries to wrap up his conversation with the cute man buying his wife an anniversary present for their 50th. 

Once the man leaves, hobbling away with his walking stick, Blaine is immediately at the counter. “Hi, how’re you doing?” 

“You literally asked me that 2 hours ago,” Kurt replies, not sure whether to be annoyed or not. 

“You’re injured, Kurt,” Blaine retorts. 

Kurt shrugs in reply, ”I’ll make it until 5.” 

“You’re in until 5? They’re mad,” Blaine angrily proclaims. 

“We only have so many days until Christmas, Blaine,” Kurt tries to match his anger, but the worry on the other guy's face is somewhat adorable. 

“I know, but you have second-degree burns on your hand. Those blisters are about to pop if you aren’t careful,” Blaine says, leaning closer to inspect the blistered hand. 

“You think I don’t know that?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just worried about you,” Blaine says, all the anger melting away from him. 

“I know you are and it’s pretty sweet,” Kurt smiles at him. 

“Would you meet me at the Christmas market around the corner from your block at 8 tonight?” Blaine asks him. 

Kurt’s eyebrows bunch up, not immediately getting what Blaine wants from him. “This is not about me not having a tree, is it?” 

Blaine’s cheeks turn crimson, “I just want to buy you a tree. I promise I’ll bring the ornaments and all. I’ll decorate it. I’ll clean the house after it sheds its needles,” Blaine bats his eyes at him. 

“Oh stop it,” Kurt says as he lightly swats Blaine with his good hand. “I’ll come.” 

“Yay,” Blaine dances around in celebration. 

“I’ll see you at 8, now stop clogging up my workspace,” Kurt winks at him. Blaine smiles back and leaves. 

The clock ticks menacingly slow for the remaining 2 hours. Kurt can’t wait to get home and do nothing for a couple of hours. 

Once he gets home, he orders himself some Thai as he isn’t up for cooking. His hand is starting to bother him more and more after all the use of the day. The blisters are both hurting and itching and he could do with some distraction, so he’s glad Blaine invited him out. 

He doesn’t bother changing out of his work clothes and just waits for the clock to strike 10 minutes to 8 and then leaves his apartment. 

As he approaches, he can see that Blaine is already there, hands deep in his pockets, a bag hanging from his wrist and a cute red beanie shielding his head from the cold. 

“Hi,” Kurt smiles as he carefully stuffs his hands into his pockets as well. “Have you already spotted the stand with trees?” 

“It’s in the corner in the back,” Blaine points out. Kurt quickly follows him down the lane to the right stand. They examine the trees together and pick out a smaller one that has great shape to it. 

Blaine hands the bag to Kurt, “You take this and I’ll carry the tree.” 

“Are you sure? I know we picked a smaller one, but it’s still heavy.” 

“Kurt,” Blaine says looking him deep in the eye, “you are hurt and I don’t wanna accidentally make it worse. So I’ll be okay carrying it,” to prove his point, he lifts up the tree and positions it under his arm. They manoeuvre themselves out of the market and make way to Kurt’s apartment. 

“Shit,” Kurt says as he realises that they don’t have a lift, so Blaine will have to carry the three up to his floor. 

“What’s wrong?” Blaine sounds muffled and far behind when in reality he’s tailing Kurt. 

“We don’t have a lift,” Kurt says, feeling terribly sorry. 

“I knew that,” Blaine replies to him. 

“Is this just a show for you to show off how strong you are?” Kurt asks teasingly. 

“You caught me,” Blaine teases right back. 

Kurt already retrieves his key and quickens his pace to be able to hold the door open for Blaine. They get into the hallway and Blaine leans the tree against the wall as he examines how to get it up most easily. 

“I’ll go up to open the door already, good luck,” Kurt smiles at him. He feels a rush of happiness rise in his stomach and quickly drops a kiss on Blaine’s cheek without thinking about it. He might not like the Christmas season, but Blaine is making it infinitely better. It’s the first time in years that he’s actually feeling happy during this time of the year. 

He softly mutters curse words under his breath as he rushes up the stairs. When he looks back, he can Blaine see staring at him lovingly. So maybe the kiss isn’t that bad after all. 

He opens the door and waits for Blaine to reappear. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” Blaine announces as he places the tree against a wall again, chest heaving a little from carrying the tree up. 

“Still sure you don’t want any help?” Kurt teases him. 

“Shut up, I’m almost there,” Blaine bits back at him. 

Kurt chuckles and holds up his hands in surrender. Blaine goes for the last stretch and picks up the tree again. 

Kurt looks around his living room, trying to decide where the tree would look best. He decides on the corner next to the sofa. He moves the table out of the way for Blaine to guide the tree to the right place. 

Together, they get the net off. 

“It looks nice,” Kurt says as he looks at the tree, it’s starting to let down its branches after being tied up. “Thank you,” he goes in for a hug and Blaine immediately hugs him back. 

“Where’s your vacuum?” Blaine asks as he eyes the trail of needles they left behind. 

“In the cupboard over there,” Kurt points. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Just a tea please,” Blaine responds as he gets to the cupboard and takes out the vacuum. 

Kurt makes himself useful making them tea as Blaine cleans the hallway, the staircase and Kurt’s apartment. 

Both of them plop down on the sofa and sip on their teas. “What did you bring?” Kurt asks, pointing to the bag he carried. 

“Have a look yourself,” Blaine tells him and takes the bag from the table as he hands it to Kurt. 

“They’re all plastic,” Blaine explains as Kurt looks at the balls. “Probably not your style, but I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t break any on the way over,” Blaine admits. 

“I shouldn’t judge,” Kurt shrugs, “It’s unbelievable you went to these lengths for me.” 

Then he takes another item out of the bag which seems oddly familiar. “It’s not what I think it is, is it?” Kurt asks as he shows it to Blaine. 

Blaine’s cheeks get a pink tinge, “it is.” 

“Is it the exact same as you brought to the store?” 

“It is,” Blaine confirms. 

“Oh, did you expect to get a kiss out of all of this?” Kurt asks daringly. Blaine’s cheeks get even brighter, but he doesn’t say a thing. 

“Right, let’s put all of this on the tree,” Kurt says. He slips the mistletoe into his back pocket, it might come in handy after all. 

They put in the lights first and then hang the balls together. “You didn’t bring a star,” Kurt comments. 

“I didn’t,” Blaine confirms. 

“Well, maybe we should put this up then,” Kurt holds up the mistletoe. He sends another daring look in Blaine’s direction. 

“Do you?” Blaine hesitantly asks and Kurt nods. 

They both lean in, their lips meeting in the middle. Kurt shudders at the cold from Blaine’s lips, not entirely warmed up yet. But it also feels very nice, a warmth spreading through his body. He drops the mistletoe in favour of framing Blaine’s face with his hand. Blaine’s hands playing with the hair in his neck.

Once they lean back, Blaine agrees that they should put up the mistletoe, quickly leaning in for another kiss. 

“Let’s take this to the sofa,” Kurt sighs happily, not really caring about whether there is a mistletoe on the top of his tree or not. 

They spend the remainder of the evening kissing on the sofa until Kurt makes Blaine leave. He doesn’t want him to, but he has a long day ahead of him the next day, or rather a long couple of days, so he can’t show up on only a couple of hours of sleep.


	17. The seventeenth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still 4 days behind, but I'm not really motivated to actually turn out multiple chapters a day, so I guess this fic will just go on until New Year's. I'm also sorry for the filler-like chapter that this one is..

It’s madness, Kurt isn’t getting any breaks in between customers anymore. It doesn’t help that he’s injured either, it has slowed him down and the pain is making him a bit snappy. Especially when yet another guy comes in to buy a ring for their girlfriend without knowing her ring size. It’s infuriating to no end. He has to suppress his dismay more than once. 

The only hope of cheering him up is Blaine, but as it’s really busy, Kurt probably won’t get a chance to even speak to him or stare at him or daydream about the previous day. He had felt so happy when he was lying in his bed, he could partially forget about the pain in his hand. He fell asleep dreaming of warm brown eyes and soft kisses. 

Once the time rolls around that Blaine usually comes in, Kurt is busy handling a client and one waiting for his attention after that. 

Blaine does approach the jewelry corner, but he notices himself that he can’t come. His eyes lock on Kurt’s though and they look at one another. Blaine pouts and then blows a kiss in Kurt’s reaction. Kurt sends a smile his way and is sad to continue to wrap the present he was busy with. 

He’s a bit annoyed Miranda isn’t there to help him as he doesn’t like to keep customers waiting, but they’re restocking today, so Miranda is needed elsewhere. He does understand that and normally he’d be thriving on not having her close, but just this once he feels like he needs some help. 

Once Blaine’s voice fills the space, Kurt relaxes a little bit. He feels more at ease hearing a familiar voice. It makes yet another boy buying his girlfriend one of those stupid heart necklaces just the tiniest bit less annoying. He still wonders why straight guys think a heart necklace is a way to go, but it’s still their best selling item. On the other hand, it makes his job easier, so he might’ve recommended it to a few guys who looked like particular douche bags. He feels slightly bad for their girlfriends, but he’s almost certain it won’t last anyway. 

Despite the voice filling his ears, Kurt kind of misses Blaine. He loved the evening they spent together the night before and not even getting to talk to him the day after is not what he imagined. 

The past two days, they were together for the majority of it, but it won’t last, Kurt knows that much. He can’t be relying on Blaine for his happiness even though Blaine’s really helping him through the rough month that’s December for him. 

His break gets reduced to twenty minutes instead of the usual half an hour due to how busy it is. Kurt worked retail all throughout college, but he never saw how busy it got around Christmas as it would be exam season as well. He’d get off a couple of days before Christmas and work a shift or two and that always seemed crazy, but now that it’s what he does day in day out, he experiences that his past experiences are nothing compared to what he’s going through now. In previous years, he’d always been extra, so he hopes for some help himself as well. 

Kurt doesn’t hate his job, but he’s had time he enjoyed it more than he does now. Honestly, the only thing that keeps him going is the fat check he’ll get at the end of the month and Blaine playing songs that he still hates. 

He is bummed when Blaine’s shift is over and he still has several hours to go himself. His feet ache from being on them for so long and he’s definitely turning into a grumpy old man. He can’t stand selling another heart necklace or ring to someone who doesn’t know the right ring size. People who want to see their entire collection are normally his favourite, but they’re getting on his nerves now. He doesn’t understand people have the audacity to take up that much time when they can see people waiting on them to finish. 

The blisters are not as close to popping as they were the day before, but he’s not healed just yet. It’s still slowing down his wrapping game. 

Once the long day ends, Kurt is stoked. He can’t wait to get home, cook himself a quick but healthy dinner and spend the rest of the night texting Blaine and watching trashy tv. If he’s lucky, Blaine will watch the same thing and they’ll have a running commentary. If he’s even luckier, Blaine will call him to comment on the television. 

They’ve never done it before, but the previous day they talked about it. Blaine didn’t want to disappoint his roommates by being unavailable to them for a third day in a row, so they decided to keep it to texting or calling. 

When Kurt puts on his jacket and stuffs his hands into his pockets, he feels something is already in there. It’s in the pocket of his good hand, so he immediately knows it came from Blaine because he’s thoughtful like that. He retrieves a cookie shaped in the form of a kiss wrapped in cellophane with a little card hanging from it, it says “I was bummed I couldn’t kiss you today, so here’s a little replacement :) don’t forget about the real thing though ;)”

He chuckles at the note and sends Blaine a message to thank him. 

**18.43 Blaine** **  
** I’m glad you got my kiss

**18.44 Kurt** **  
** I’m too, you’re too adorable, I love it

**18.45 Blaine  
** So, you’re telling me this was a total surprise?

**18.45 Kurt** **  
** It was! **  
**

**18.47 Blaine** **  
** Yay! Mission accomplished! 

**18.50 Kurt** **  
** Care to explain?

**18.51 Blaine** **  
** I had to sneak back in, I didn’t expect it to be so busy today. Like obviously I wouldn’t just kiss you in the middle of your workplace

**18.56 Kurt** **  
** I’m glad you now know how inappropriate that is ;)

**18.57 Blaine  
** I’m never going to live that down, am I?

**19.02 Kurt** **  
** Nope!

**19.03 Kurt** **  
** I’m trying my best to balance and not launch myself against the boobs of the lady in front of me, so I’ll text you later, alright?

Blaine replies in affirmative. As soon as Kurt is home, he shoots Blaine another message. They text throughout the entire night until Blaine says that his roommates will steal his phone if he doesn’t stop mooning at it, so their conversation halts. Just before Kurt goes to bed, Blaine calls him and they both brush their teeth over the phone and talk until Kurt falls asleep.


	18. The eighteenth day of Christmas

Kurt wakes up to a text from Blaine again, it’s kind of a mystery to him that Blaine keeps waking up before him although he probably goes to sleep later than him. He wonders whether Blaine just sets an alarm to send him the message, especially since it takes him a bit to reply. He’s not comfortable asking that though, he has to admit that it’s a bit egocentric to think like that and he doesn’t want to be. 

Once he gets to work, there’s already someone behind the jewelry station, which surprises Kurt. Normally, Miranda would warn him about something like this. 

“Hi, I’m Quinn,” the girl says, she sticks her hand out and waits for Kurt to shake it. 

“Oh, hi!” Kurt says awkwardly, not really sure how to handle the situation. The girl does look very familiar to him. 

“I’m normally on changing room duty, but Miranda sent me here to help you the rest of the holiday season,” she explains. 

“I knew you looked familiar,” Kurt says quietly, “thank goodness there’s someone else here as well. Has Miranda given you a run down?” 

“She tried to, but she was very busy and kind of confusing,” Quinn softly chuckles. 

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kurt jokes right back, he feels like him and Quinn will get along splendidly. “I’ll walk you through most of the things I do on the daily and then you can watch the first few times I handle a customer if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure,” she says, taking a step backwards so Kurt has all the room he needs to explain things to her. 

Kurt tells her all about the jewelry corner, what can be found where, the safety precautions he has to take, etcetera, etcetera. He learns that Quinn isn’t a master gift wrapper, but luckily, his hand is doing much better than it was the day before; it is healing quite nicely. 

They work together almost seamlessly, which is quite a pleasant surprise for Kurt. Quinn is a very smart girl he soon learns, she remembered most things like immediately, which is of immense help to Kurt. Handling customers together is also much more convenient than alone, the two have time to get to know each other a little in between all of the madness. 

Kurt is glad that he isn’t busy with a customer the moment Blaine comes in. He’s late this time, he probably figured that it’s no use getting in earlier since Kurt can’t talk to him anymore due to the ever-increasing number of customers. 

Blaine says a quick hello to Kurt, but they don’t have time to talk, so Kurt is a little bummed. They’d gone the entirety of the day before without talking face to face as well, so he hoped to at least get a few minutes with Blaine today and a kiss if he was very lucky. 

Quinn has to elbow Kurt to get his attention. She was busy finding a pair of earrings with a man and they found something pleasing and now Kurt had to wrap it as just a box wouldn’t cut it. 

“I’m sorry,” Kurt mutters as he refocuses and starts wrapping the little jewelry box. He makes sure to put in some extra love and care to make up for the wait. 

“There you go and I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” Kurt says as he hands the present to the gentleman. 

“Thank you,” the man responds with a big smile. 

“That was a good safe, Hummel,” Quinn says, her demeanour reminds him of Santana, although she is a bit softer than Santana is. 

“I’m a professional,” Kurt grins wickedly at her. 

“A professional at mooning at that boy,” Quinn quips. 

“Oh shut up,” Kurt tries to get back at her, but he knows it’s a lost game. 

“So what’s up with him?” 

“Nothing, he just plays the piano here,” Kurt shrugs. 

“Yea, I’m not buying that, but if you don’t wanna tell me anything, then that’s alright,” Quinn shrugs and she turns to the counter as another customer walks up. 

“It’s not that I don’t wanna tell you anything, it’s just that there is nothing,” Kurt deadpans, although he knows he’s lying. 

Blaine comes out again and quickly gets into playing yet another Christmas song after he tunes the piano. It soon gets crowded around him, not only with people who are watching him but also those who are passing. 

“When does he get off?” Quinn asks as she catches Kurt staring at Blaine’s back for the umpteenth time. 

“In an hour,” Kurt replies a little too quickly. 

“I thought there was nothing there,” Quinn teases him. 

“I like him, alright,” Kurt lets her in on the secret. 

“Okay, so if I take my break right now and you take yours in like 45 minutes, would that work out for you?” She points between Kurt and Blaine. 

“Yea, it would,” Kurt smiles at her, actually thankful for her thoughtfulness. 

He works his butt off for another 45 minutes and then takes his break. He eats his lunch as quick as he can in order to be almost done when Blaine comes in. 

“Hi babe,” Blaine says the moment he walks in. 

Kurt blushes at the nickname, although it also sends a pleasant flutter through his stomach, “hi.”

“How are you today? How’s your hand?” He immediately takes Kurt’s hand in his to look at it, very carefully of course. 

“I’m better now,” Kurt smiles at him. “My hand’s doing much better as well, thanks. What about you?”

“Same for me,” Blaine smiles right back. “How much longer do you have?”

Kurt checks his phone, “10 minutes.” He makes a bit of a sad face afterwards. 

“It’s more than we had yesterday,” Blaine tries to look at the positive side of things. 

They chat for a bit until Kurt has to go.

“This is so tacky, but I can’t leave without a kiss,” Kurt confesses. He would’ve never thought he’d be in the breakroom of his workplace kissing one of the other employees, it’s like something straight out of a movie, but here he is. 

“I’m glad you changed your mind,” Blaine winks at him. 

“There’s been a lot of changing my mind lately, so why shouldn’t I change my mind about this as well?” 

Kurt waits for Blaine to shrug on his jacket. He is taking his uniform to be cleaned, so he’s not changing out of it today. 

To ensure that no one is gonna walk in on them, Kurt presses Blaine against the back of the door and then he presses a sweet kiss to his lips. Blaine snakes his hands around Kurt’s neck and pulls him in for another, more heated kiss. 

Kurt would’ve loved to keep going, but he has to get back to Quinn, he’s already a bit late. “I have to go, I’m sorry. I’ll call you tonight tho, I liked how we talked so much yesterday night,” he presses another quick kiss to Blaine’s mouth and releases him. 

“That was hot,” Blaine whispers, trying to get Kurt to kiss him again, but Kurt can restrain from the temptation. 

He quickly walks up to Quinn who is smiling at him mischievously. “Tell me you didn’t press him against the door and had your way with him,” her voice still sounds as sweet as always, but there clearly is some heat to it. 

“W-what?” Kurt brings out, not expecting her to be so forward. 

“Nothing my ass, you are into him. You’re planning your future with him, I can tell.” 

Kurt wants to reply with a snarky comment, but maybe she’s right. Maybe he has spent a few too many hours on planning his future with Blaine. 


	19. The nineteenth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas eve everyone! I hope you have a nice day or evening, depending on where you are. I'm sending my love your way, especially if you have to spend this Christmas without family. To those who don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a nice Thursday evening :)

When Kurt comes in, the piano is gone. He’s immediately worried about it and is uncertain whether he should text Blaine about it or not. He just hopes that it doesn’t mean Blaine has been made redundant. 

**9.13 Kurt** **  
** Uhm Blaine?

**9.31 Blaine** **  
** Something wrong? 

**9.33 Blaine** **  
** Kurt? 

**9.35 Blaine** **  
** I’m worried, please text me asap

**9.40 Blaine** **  
** Kurt please, this isn’t funny

**9.45 Kurt  
** I’m so sorry, this is the first moment I’ve been able to look at my phone

**9.46 Blaine** **  
** What’s wrong?

**9.46 Kurt  
** I don’t want to worry you, but the piano.. it’s gone?

**9.47 Blaine** **  
** What?

**9.48 Kurt  
** The piano isn’t there. I don’t know whether they moved it? But you don’t know anything about it then?

**9.50 Blaine** **  
** I don’t, I know nothing

**9.51 Kurt  
** Shit, I’m sorry

**9.52 Blaine** **  
** Maybe it’s elsewhere, we’ll see no worries babe

Kurt blushes at the little pet word. Blaine has called him babe before, a couple of times even, but it still makes his stomach flutter. It makes him feel weird though as there is an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach as well, due to the piano being gone. For as far as he could explore, it wasn’t on any of the other floors in the building either. 

“Your boy’s not coming in anymore, is he?” Quinn asks as soon as they get a chance to chat. She had come in a bit later as she doesn’t work at the store full time, Kurt learnt she’s pursuing a Master’s degree in law, but she needs some money on the side and the store doesn’t pay too badly. 

“We don’t know,” Kurt replies honestly if a little sadly. He really doesn’t know how he’ll get through these last godawful days without Blaine’s soothing voice in his ear for a couple of hours a day. It has really brought him a sense of peace, comfort even. 

On the one hand, he can’t wait to see Blaine again, on the other, he’s terrified for Blaine. He doesn’t want him to lose this job, although it was temporarily to begin with. Maybe the loss of the job might even be harder on Kurt than it is on Blaine. 

Kurt asks Quinn if he can take his break at 1 when Blaine comes in. She agrees to it, mainly because she can see how desperate Kurt is. She reminds him not to let any funny business go down in the breakroom though. The breakroom’s busier at 1 than it ever would at 3. 

Blaine comes in a bit before 1, mainly because he’s concerned about his job, but also to chat with Kurt. 

“I hope this is not the end,” Kurt tells Blaine, he is close to tears, something he hadn’t expected to ever happen and certainly not regarding Blaine possibly getting sacked. That’s what he wanted at the beginning of this Christmas season. It’s crazy how fast some things can change. 

“Even if it is, it won’t be,” Blaine softly rubs his thumb over the palm of Kurt’s outstretched hand. He immediately gets that Kurt is afraid it’ll be the end of them as well. 

“Quinn and I talked about it and I have my break at 1, so whatever the outcome, I’ll either come and watch you or we can talk, alright?” Kurt asks, wrapping his hand around Blaine’s thumb. Blaine nods and loosens Kurt’s grip on his thumb so that he can leave. 

Kurt can see the back of Miranda’s head making her way into the breakroom, so something was going to happen for sure. 

Kurt’s so nervous that he cannot take on another customer, luckily there aren’t any, so he just idly helps Quinn wrap a present before heading off for his break. 

He almost walks into Miranda as she leaves the breakroom, Blaine not in tow. She looks at him apologetically. 

“It’s over, isn’t it?” Kurt asks the moment he enters the room. He doesn’t even know who’s in there, but he knows Blaine is. 

Blaine is sitting at the table, head hanging on his chest. He looks up the moment he hears Kurt’s voice and nods. Kurt quickly approaches his and embraces him from behind. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart,” Blaine says, turning in his seat to face Kurt. He looks bummed, but not as emotional as Kurt would’ve expected. He’s either really good at masking his emotions, or he really isn’t that bothered by it. 

“I know, but I just feel so bad about it,” Kurt admits. 

“It’s just too busy to keep me and I could tell, I think even you could,” Blaine meets Kurt’s eye and Kurt nods curtly. “I did.” 

“It’s safer for me not to come in anymore, I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic with some many surrounding me and pushing to get through,” Blaine says. “And I don’t mean anything by this, but I’m also sort of glad it’s over,” he admits, he takes Kurt’s hand in his and guides him towards the seat next to him. 

Kurt plops down and looks at Blaine expectantly. He isn’t sure whether he should be offended or not. 

“Do you want this to end?” Kurt asks, not daring to look at Blaine. 

Blaine lifts Kurt’s chin with the touch of a finger to make their eyes meet, “God no, I never want this to end.” Sincerity shines through everywhere, his eyes, his voice, it even flows through his veins. 

“You really don’t?” Kurt asks again, looking at Blaine’s reaction though and he can tell that Blaine really means it. 

“I don’t know whatever it is, but I do know that I don’t want it to end,” Blaine reaffirms. He leans in a little, Kurt’s eyes quickly scan the room, no one’s there, so he leans in as well and presses a soft kiss to Blaine’s lips. 

For a moment, it flows through his head that Blaine might be asking him to define what they are, but he decides not to comment on it. All he knows is that he likes Blaine and he likes how Blaine makes him feel, but he isn’t sure how to define it. They’re more than friends, but not yet boyfriends, or that’s how Kurt feels. 

Kurt leans in again and pecks Blaine’s lips, “neither do I.”

“That’s good to hear,” Blaine smiles into their kiss. He pulls away and stands up from his chair to get Kurt his lunch. He forces Kurt to eat and they chat whilst they’re at it. Once Kurt’s break ends, Blaine leaves with a promise of texting Kurt. 


	20. The twentieth day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my Christmas present to all of you, a double update!

When Kurt wakes up in the morning, he immediately doesn’t want to go in. There’s no point if he doesn’t get to see Blaine. Moreover, he has to work on Sunday, which he really isn’t looking forward to. He knows he doesn’t have a choice, because capitalism, but he still doesn’t enjoy it. 

He begrudgingly gets dressed, he doesn’t even have a good morning text from Blaine, which is kind of a bummer too. Blaine had had a nice evening with his roommates though, which he totally deserved after getting sacked. Kurt didn’t expect the text, but it certainly made his day better whenever he did receive it.

**7.53 Kurt  
** Hi babe, I hope your head isn’t hurting too much. Good morning :) I hope that makes it a bit better if it does

Kurt doesn’t expect a response for at least a couple of hours. When the clock strikes past 1 and he still hasn’t heard from Blaine, he gets worried though. 

“What’s got you all antsy?” Quinn asks him as he’s a bit unfocused again. He just pulled out a drawer filled with earrings and showed them to a customer who asked for hangers, he’s still a bit embarrassed about it. 

Kurt just shrugs in reply, she doesn’t have to know how pathetic Kurt is, waiting for a text from the boy he likes. 

“Well, maybe go take your break then, I can’t deal with the second-hand embarrassment if something like that will keep on happening,” Quinn retorts. Kurt’s cheeks tinge pink in embarrassment. He’d hoped Quinn had been too busy to notice. 

“You saw that?” Kurt mutters under his breath. 

“No, I didn’t that’s why I’m mentioning it,” Quinn deadpans, Kurt can tell she’s a little annoyed by his action. 

“I’ll, erm, I’ll just take my break now,” Kurt tells her, quickly making his way out of the jewelry corner. 

He can put himself back together in just 30 minutes, sure no problem. If Blaine would just reply, everything would be solved very quickly, it would just be very helpful. He is allowing the worry to become him, something that’s very unnatural to him. 

He just tells himself over and over again that Blaine doesn’t owe him anything. They’re not boyfriends, he passed up on defining them like that the day before, and even if they were, Blaine deserves to have his own life without Kurt controlling him like that. Kurt doesn’t have to know how Blaine chooses to spend every minute of every single day. 

He takes a few deep grounding breaths before he goes back to his station. He immediately sends Quinn off for her own break and perfectly manages the counter for the 30 minutes she’s gone. Simply being busy with customers is helping him keep his mind off of Blaine, which he’s thankful for. 

To some extent, he longs back to the beginning of December, when his every thought wasn’t laced with Blaine. Because sometimes it seemed like all he could think about was Blaine. Being in love, although Kurt can’t admit that to himself just yet, is every part as tiring as it is lovely. 

When Quinn returns, they work efficiently side by side, no more awkward encounters like the one before Kurt’s break. He somehow turned off his mind, or at least the part that Blaine is in control of, and helps the customers to the best of his ability. 

At one point, Quinn elbows him between his ribs. He wants to curse at her, but when he follows the point of her finger, he suddenly forgets about it. It’s Blaine, in the flesh. 

“Oh hello,” Kurt says as he bats his eyes at Blaine. He kind of wants to be angry with him for not responding to his text. He hadn’t felt the buzz of a text in his pocket, so he was certain Blaine didn’t text him between now and last he checked. They are in the middle of a store though, which isn’t an appropriate stage to handle this problem. 

“Excuse me?” Blaine says, acting as if Kurt’s flirting is inappropriate. 

“How can I help you, darling?” Kurt asks, sounding a bit posh. He doesn’t know why the accent kicked in, but it makes him feel inherently sexier. 

“I was just, you know, looking for a ring for my darling,” Blaine responds, trying some old Hollywood accent himself. 

“Is it a present? Or do you have other plans?” Kurt retorts. 

“I don’t know, what do you recommend?” 

“I’m not sure, I don’t know the ins and outs of your relationship,” Kurt responds. 

“She’s a sweetheart, she deserves something beautiful,” is all Blaine says.

“Can you describe her to me?” Kurt asks Blaine. 

“She has blinding blue eyes that take me on journeys I could’ve never dreamt of, skin as white as snow and thick brown hair that runs through my fingers like a thick fur coat,” Blaine lists. Kurt is a little confused, he’s unsure whether Blaine’s flattering him or if he’s just making something up. 

“Pouty lips that are oh so kissable, much like those of yourself,” Blaine comments before Kurt can ask for clarification. 

“Oh right, erm, yea, sure,” Kurt is taken aback by the comment. 

“So what kind of ring did you have in mind?” He asks again, giving Blaine the lead in this act-that-isn’t-entirely-an-act. 

“Definitely a gold band and maybe some red to bring out her smooth white skin,” Blaine tells him, so Kurt gets out a tray with golden rings adorned with rubies and garnets. 

They look over the rings, exchanging them between them and Blaine keeps pushing Kurt to try them on, saying that he needs to test how the ring looks against his skin. It makes Kurt feel a little uncomfortable, especially when Quinn starts watching them after her customer leaves. 

“Red doesn’t suit, I think we should do blue or go with a classic diamond,” Blaine says. 

“No, what you need to do,” Quinn says, her pointer finger on Kurt’s chest, “is take a break, this is driving me crazy. This is more embarrassing than you getting out earrings instead of the hangers.” 

Kurt blushes at the comment but is also kind of thankful for Quinn making him take a break. “You better be back in 15 though, I don’t want any problems with Miranda.”

Kurt nods and rushes out. Blaine follows him to the breakroom. 

“So, what are you doing here?” Kurt asks him the moment they sit down in the chairs. 

“Can’t I just visit you?”

“No,” Kurt says, he looks at Blaine a little angrily, “not after ignoring my text for the majority of the day.”

“I missed you and I just wanted to surprise you,” Blaine tells him with big puppy eyes. Kurt’s heart melts a little at the confession. 

“I missed you too,” he says earnestly. “But please respond to my text the next time instead of just showing up hours after you woke up.”

“You were worried,” Blaine proclaims, “You were worried about me. Who would’ve thought, who would’ve thought.” It almost seems as if Blaine still can’t believe that Kurt is actually into him. 

“I might’ve been,” Kurt says, trying to protect the last piece of dignity he has left. Not really, but that’s what it feels like right now. 

“It’s cute,” Blaine tells him. 

“Yea, whatever,” Kurt says, “don’t do that to me again, please.” 

“I don’t have to tell you every single thing I do,” Blaine starts getting a bit miffed now. 

“You don’t,” Kurt confirms. “I’m just glad you’re here. I missed you and I was worried, so worried. Quinn basically told me to get my head out of the gutter earlier today.” 

“You’ve got it bad, Hummel,” Blaine teases him.

“Maybe I do,” Kurt says and he leans in to kiss Blaine. He’d not only missed Blaine, but he’d also missed his lips as well and he’s glad to have him here. 

Kurt can feel a buzz in his back pocket, hear it against the wood of the chair even. But he decides to ignore it. 

The door gets pushed open and the echo of heels resounds throughout the room. “That’s what we’re calling a bathroom break now?” Miranda booms through the room, even louder than the clacking of her angry stamp of feet. 

“M-miranda,” Kurt brings out, shoving Blaine away from him. Blaine sits up straight and watches the scene play out in front of him.

“I’m glad you’ve finally found love, but that’s something private, Kurt,” Miranda tells him. “If I catch you smoothing that piano boy another time, you’re out,” she says. 

It is clear that he’s gone too far. He feels humiliated. Not only because his boss just walked in on him and Blaine kissing, but also because she had clearly been watching him and Blaine interact. Maybe he was even partially to blame for the letting go of Blaine. He now realises that just like Quinn, Miranda isn’t blind. She probably already knew about this for a bit, or at least suspected it. 

“Fuck,” Kurt breathes as it fully settles in what just happened. “We can’t do this anymore, you cannot show up here. I need to be on my best behaviour, I can’t afford to lose my job.” 

He starts panicking. He can see Blaine doubt what to do, he bites his lips and probably contemplates kissing Kurt to make him think about something else. However, he knows Kurt well enough that that wouldn’t go down well. He settles on softly blowing in Kurt’s face, something mothers do to their babies to get them to calm down. It also works for Kurt, he can breathe easier after a while. 

“I’ll have to get going,” Kurt says, abruptly pushing his chair back and walking out of the breakroom. 

Once he gets to Quinn, she immediately apologises to him. “I tried my hardest to convince her you were in the bathroom, but she didn’t buy it. I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s okay, Quinn. It’s not your fault, I was present here and I didn’t stop this,” Kurt admits. “Thank you for what you’ve done,” he smiles at her. 

“The warning came too late, didn’t it?” Quinn asks sincerely.

“We were already kissing,” ablush appears on Kurt’s cheeks, ”so yea, it did.”

“She didn’t fire you, did she?” Quinn is concerned now. 

“Nope, but I did get a final warning though, so you’ll have me on my best behaviour. I also banned Blaine from coming in as long as I’m working.” 

“You guys are cute,” Quinn tells him, a loving gaze in her eyes. “I wish I had something like that.”

“I hated his guts,” Kurt tells her, “so I’m sure it’s not as perfect as you think it is.” 

“I can tell that you love him, it’s practically written all over your face,” Quinn tugs a stray of hair behind her ear, “on his too by the way.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it is. You might’ve hated him, but that’s long forgotten about now, I just know. You should tell him.” 

“I’m not sure, I still don’t know why I hated him to begin with. I promised him I would explain it to him,” Kurt says to her, a bit embarrassed by it. 

“Work on figuring it out and don’t wait too long, Kurt,” she presses. “He can only leave his heart on the line for so long.” 

“You’re right.” 


	21. The twenty-first day of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! There I am again, I took the last 2 days off as they were reserved for Christmas here and I just didn't have time/motivation to write on those days. I got a very fluffy and soft thing here, we're almost there. Kurt needs just a little more time.

The day seems to drag on, Kurt is longing for a day off. The crazy days before Christmas are truly here now, breaks are getting shorter and shorter. Blaine isn’t allowed in the shop due to their PDA in the breakroom the day before. He wasn’t officially banned, but between the two of them, they decided it’d be better if Blaine didn’t show up again. Miranda also didn’t appreciate texting, so they kept that to a bare minimum as well now that Kurt’s job is on the line. Not that he had time to even text Blaine other than during his breaks. 

Once it is 9 PM, Kurt is glad to be off. He had started at 9 that morning and by now, his feet are beyond aching. They aren’t allowed a stool behind the counter, because it encourages laziness and a closed-off attitude towards customers, so they’ve been banned. He’s been on his feet for over 10 hours and the next day doesn’t promise a change in that. Not even Quinn’s help, who had only worked half the hours Kurt did, was sufficient. 

His fingers are sore from wrapping up yet another tiny jewelry box. Sometimes he wishes they’d just have gift bags or tiny bags that would hold the box with the jewelry. Although the wrapping he does looks way better than a gift bag ever would. 

On his train ride home, Kurt plans to have a quick dinner, followed by a nice and relaxing soak in the bathtub and then off to bed. Basically, just anything to be off of his feet, they need to rest for the coming couple of days. 

Once he arrives at his apartment building, he finds Blaine leaning against the wall next to the front entrance. 

“Finally,” Blaine says as he quickly approaches Kurt, pushes down his scarf to press a kiss to his lips. 

Kurt is a little startled, he didn’t expect for Blaine to show up. “Hi, how long have you been waiting there?” Kurt realises he never let Blaine know at what time he’d be off. 

“Half an hour or so, I think,” Blaine shrugs, he looks as if it’s nothing. It makes Kurt’s stomach flutter, Blaine is really trying his hardest to be with him, just in his presence, not even in a relationship per se. 

“You’re crazy,” Kurt comments as he pecks Blaine’s lips, then pushes him back so he can retrieve his keys from his pocket. He unlocks the door and holds it open for Blaine, who follows him up to his apartment. 

“I’m crazy,” Blaine confirms as he hops on the stairs. He rushes to get in front of Kurt and turns around, “I’m crazy about you.” 

It’s cheesy, but Kurt loves it. He always wished for someone to be all lovey-dovey with him, but for the longest time it had seemed as if no one would ever be that for him. There was always something that kept them from being truly like couples in the movies, but whatever it is that he has with Blaine comes very close. Although it’s so perfect, something still keeps him from defining their relationship, it’s almost as if Kurt’s scared that a label will change it. As if he fears that once Blaine is his, the game is over and things will become normal, boring. It just makes him uncertain and scared. 

Blaine leans in to kiss Kurt again, but he softly pushes him away and turns him around. He pats his bum and motions for him to walk upstairs. Once they disappear behind his front door, he wants to push Blaine against the door and kiss him senselessly, but he simply doesn’t have the strength to do so. Instead, he drops onto the couch. 

Blaine plops down next to him, “have you had dinner already?”

  
“I haven’t,” Kurt admits, a bit ashamed. He always preaches about taking care of yourself and eating healthy and here he is after a long day of work with no intention of eating a healthy meal or even slightly taking care of himself. 

“What if,” Blaine trailed, searching Kurt’s face for something which Kurt couldn’t even imagine, “I cooked you dinner and you took a bath.” 

“Would you do that for me?” Kurt asks genuinely surprised. Blaine nods and wraps him up in a hug. “I would, you’re exhausted, come on,” he takes Kurt’s hand and pulls him up of the couch. He wraps his arm around Kurt’s waist to support him. Once they get to the bathroom, he positions Kurt on the edge of the bathtub. He turns the faucet on and waits for the water to flow. The row of bath products is carefully examined and Blaine takes a lavender bath bomb and drops it in the water. He kneels down and starts untying Kurt’s shoes. If Kurt had had only a little more energy, he might’ve cracked a sex joke, but he’s just glad Blaine is helping him. 

“Thank you,” Kurt whispers as Blaine neatly lines up his shoes by the door of the bathroom. 

“I propose you do the rest yourself,” Blaine smiles at him, Kurt thankfully smiles back. 

“Wait,” Kurt says as Blaine leaves the room, “can you get me some clothes to change into?” He tells Blaine where to find his pyjamas. Blaine brings them in and after that, Kurt undresses and gets in the bath as Blaine cooks him dinner with whatever is in the fridge. 

“Kurt,” Blaine yells after half an hour. 

“Yea?” Kurt yells right back at him. He hears a knock on the door. 

“Dinner’s ready,” Blaine says from behind the door. 

“I’ll be out in a second,” Kurt tells him. 

When Kurt gets back into the living room, Blaine is sitting on the couch a plate filled with food on the coffee table. 

“I brought Frozen 2,” Blaine tells Kurt with a shrug. 

“Just put it in,” Kurt responds with a nod to the television. So Blaine does as told as Kurt sits down on the sofa, wraps himself in a blanket and digs in. 

Blaine sits down next to him after fixing the DVD. They sit in silence for a while, only broken by the scratching of cutlery on china. Once Kurt’s done, he puts the plate on the coffee table and leans against Blaine. 

Blaine pulls on Kurt’s jogging bottoms for him to put his feet in his lap rather than folding them underneath himself. Kurt rearranges himself so that he’s against the arm of the sofa, feet in Blaine’s lap. Blaine takes off his socks and starts rubbing the knots out of his feet. Kurt tries to watch the movie, but he gets distracted by the amazingly sweet boy on his couch. He groans when Blaine hits a particularly sore spot and Blaine just grins at him playfully. 

“I know the sexual tension is through the roof right now,” Kurt babbles, “but I can’t physically do anything about it.” He’s well on his way to being sleep drunk, brain to mouth filter be damned. Blaine blushes at the comment and doesn’t know what else to do about it. 

“Are your feet better?” He asks and Kurt nods. He’s now pulling on Blaine to position himself in such a way that Kurt can lean against his chest, almost as if they’re cuddling. 

Kurt's eyes keep slipping closed the further into the movie they get. He’s very cosy, engulfed by Blaine’s warmth and wrapped up in his comforting scent. It’s almost like it used to be when his mother held him in her arms. He feels content, better than he has in a long time. More at ease, peaceful. 

Blaine presses a kiss to his hair, “just sleep if you have to, it’s okay.” He softly rubs his thumb over Kurt’s forearm, which he’s holding. He divides his attention between the warm boy against his chest and the movie, which he’s seen approximately a dozen times already. He feels happy, he feels like he finally came home.


	22. The twenty-second day of Christmas

Kurt is awoken by a soft knock on the door. When he stretches, the memories flood back. In the middle of the night, he fled to his own room after waking up safely wrapped up in Blaine’s arms. He had been very warm, something that couldn’t be said about his own bed when he slipped between the sheets. 

“Yes,” Kurt calls out to show Blaine that it’s okay for him to come in. 

“Hi, good morning,” Blaine smiles at him, his curls widely arranged on his head and crease of the sofa cushions in his cheek. 

“Good morning,” Kurt smiles right back at him as he takes in the adorable sight in front of him. Blaine’s cheeks are still red with sleep and his jumper hangs off of his body oddly in some places. “How did you sleep?” 

“Fine,” Blaine answers, not really disclosing much. 

“I’m sorry I left you all alone,” Kurt apologises, he doesn’t want to beat around the bush. “I just woke up and I was comfortable, but I can’t afford to wake up with a crick in my neck,” He tries to explain, but he isn’t sure if he managed. 

“No worries,” Blaine approaches the bed and plops himself down on it after getting a consensual gesture from Kurt. “I understand you need to take proper care of your body in these times when work is practically killing you. How are your feet?”

“They’re perfect, thanks to you,” Kurt pets down Blaine’s arm and takes his hand in his, playing with his fingers. 

Blaine carefully leans in for a kiss, not sure whether Kurt will allow him to kiss him, which he doesn’t. Kurt inches back quickly, he puts his hand in between them, “morning breath.”

“I don’t care,” Blaine tries to convince him, but Kurt doesn’t give in. 

“What time is it?” Kurt asks, realising he hadn’t set his alarm the night before as he fell asleep on Blaine and only rushed to his own bed in the middle of the night. He had just enough brainpower to get a cosy blanket for Blaine who looked kind of lonely on his own. In his quick transfer, he’d forgotten about the alarm clock. 

“Like a quarter past seven,” Blaine responds. Kurt groans, he hoped he could fit some cuddles with Blaine in before he had to get up, but if he wants to make it to work by 9, he doesn’t. 

“I’m sorry, but I have to get this going,” Kurt spoils their fun as Blaine is just getting comfortable on top of the covers, practically cocooning Kurt. 

“Work is such a spoilsport,” Blaine pouts. Kurt agrees with him and throws back his blanket. 

“Do you want to take a shower?” Kurt asks Blaine as he shuffles around his room to get a clean uniform out. 

“Would that make things more difficult for you?” Blaine asks thoughtfully.

“If you do so quickly, then I can whip up breakfast,” Kurt shrugs. 

“Sure,” Blaine agrees and he quickly makes his way to the bathroom. Kurt hands him a clean jumper and pair of pants and Blaine agrees that he’ll rewear his own trousers. 

Kurt feels like he has to be a good host, so instead of going for his usual quick yoghurt he has in the morning, he cooks them oatmeal and cuts up some fresh veggies. He also contemplates baking some eggs, but he doesn’t want to have too many leftovers. He also prepares his lunch as he waits for Blaine to finish in the shower. If he’s very quick, he can take one too and get to work on time, so he just has his fingers crossed Blaine will cut it off soon as well. 

Kurt can’t even finish his thought before Blaine turns off the water. He feels eternally grateful that Blaine had gotten the memo that he’d have to make it quick. 

They eat breakfast together in companionable silence. They’re too busy eating to chat, but there are still some loving glances. 

“I’ll do the washing up when you’re in the shower,” Blaine tells Kurt when he puts his spoon down after his final bite. Kurt wants to protest, but it’d buy him a little time so he actually refrains himself from doing so. 

“Thank you,” Kurt presses a quick kiss to Blaine’s cheek and then leaves. He gets himself ready for work, for once thankful for it just being a uniform. Normally he’d argue it’s restrictive of his self-expression, but now it’s a gift. 

They get onto the train together, Blaine getting off after one stop because their agreement of him not showing up at the store still stands. They part ways with a quick kiss, not fully comfortable with full PDA. 

When Kurt rides on the train to work, it suddenly dawns on him that Christmas is literally right around the corner, but he doesn’t have a present for Blaine yet. He never expected to get close enough to anyone in the timespan they did for him to buy them a present, but he did and now he’s slightly panicking about what to get Blaine. He didn’t have a lot of time, both in regard to the many hours he would have to work and the number of days until Christmas. Nor did he have a lot of time to actually think of something as his mind would be fully taken up by his work most of the time. 

He could maybe just take the easy way out and get Blaine some jewelry, but he isn’t sure whether he likes that. Sure, it’s kind of how this all started off, but jewelry has become kind of tacky and insignificant to Kurt after being surrounded by it so often. 

Kurt arrives at work with more problems than he bargained for, but he decides that he’ll stay a little longer at night and roam the store to see if he can find something for Blaine. Fingers crossed he'll find the perfect gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh, i know, they act like a married couple already


End file.
